Posted 6 years ago
IronLace
(930 items)
Found at an antiques fair on Sunday, these items were too good to resist, even if they are "spare parts."
To begin, they have the look, up to a point, of Victorian rainbow satin glass - but they are reproduction pieces made in Murano in the 1960s - 1970s era, when a lot of Victorian art glass was revived. How can you tell the difference? The dead giveaway is the greyish line between the blue & yellow stripes...real Victorian rainbow satin glass blends seamlessly, but for some reason, the Murano reproductions always have this murky line.
These pieces, three of which look like rose bowls, the fourth, a small vase, all have metal fittings, which strongly suggests that they were once part of something bigger, most likely an epergne of some sort. I dare say it was quite a flamboyant item, whatever it was originally. But they obviously have lost the rest of their "bits", & now I'm just going to think of them as a set of rose bowls plus one vase. Perhaps I will even attempt to remove the metal fittings, as it is possible that they are finished off properly underneath, & will stand on their own.
The rose bowls measure around 10 cm tall (with the fitting) & 5 cm across the crimped top rims. The vase measures 10.5 cm tall, & 7.5 cm across the flared & crimped top rim. Each piece is made from three layers of cased glass - clear over yellow, pink, & blue stripes with a herringbone air - trap pattern, over a white interior.
I think you can see why I fell for them...& the fact they were $10 each was a bonus.
Ha! I saw these, good fun!
Bargains, beauty for little. I would immediately think these were Victorian, but I don't have your nous obviously.
It must have been a hell of a piece! Wow.
What holds the metal on the glass do you know?
Many thanks, racer...yes, I'd love to know what the original piece looked like assembled. I have had speculative thoughts of it being mounted on a mirror plateau as some Victorian examples were (especially the type involving rose bowls - & fairy lamps). As for the adhesive - I am uncertain at this point - there's residue on the outside of the fittings on the rose bowls, which looks like a glue of some sort. The Victorian method for cementing glass epergne parts to metal was typically Plaster of Paris, but this substance looks different. The seller actually suggested soaking them in water for a while to see if that loosens it up, so perhaps I'll give it a go...
Thanks also, Jewels1900! The caught my eye from quite a distance (I have a weakness for anything rainbow coloured). Do you go to that fair regularly? I go every month...