Posted 2 months ago
IronLace
(926 items)
Here is a really cool Czech/Bohemian glass vase that I picked up in a local shop having a 50% off sale!
I have not seen anything in person before like this, it is both unusual & elegant which made it a must - have.
The vase is made from what looks like three layers of cased glass, amber/brown over oxblood red & yellow - orange, with a light grey opaline interior. It measures 12 cm tall, 7 cm across the top rim, & 5.5 cm across the base.
It has an interesting & very attractive decor, what I would describe as between an imitation stone effect & animal print. It almost looks like a kind of Peloton decor but there are no applied threads, rather, I would venture it looks like an internalized crackle effect. It is of a relatively diminutive size but the classical urn shape lends it a certain gravitas.
The finish is very classy, with a smooth, fire polished top rim & neatly polished out pontil mark.
But who made it? I guess it is Czech/Bohemian origin circa early 20th century.
This vase in Peggy's collection is the only one I've found so far that has a similar decor, but the interior is a different colour.
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/196992-kralik-art-deco-vase?in=loved-by-IronLace
Nice one! Looks like tortoiseshell glass.
https://www.google.com/search?q=czech+tortoiseshell+glass+vase&sca_upv=1&sca_upv=1&udm=2
I like it because the glass reminds me of Tigers Eye stone .
John2Nhoj, thanks for the link...most of the results are more in the spatter glass zone which is what I'd more associate with the "tortoiseshell" description. However, I found one image from CW there which is more in line with my vase -
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/214123-kralik-tortoise-shell-ball-vase?in=activity
Philmac51's vase is probably by the same maker as mine, suggested here as Kralik by Jericho. Interestingly, the late great MALKEY brings up the idea of a Giraffe pattern, which had crossed my mind, though my vase is darker in tone & more orange/brown than the brown/beige combination seen in Philmac51's example.
Thanks also, Dragonflypearl! Tiger's eye is a nice analogy for this decor, too.
Beautiful piece. Congratulations. For a long time I believed that this was a product of the W. Kralik glass factory (the decor is referred to by collectors as "Giraffe"). However, this is a product of Ernst Steinwald & Co., circa 1930. Here is a link to my 3 vases with this decor.
https://www.bohemianglass.org/katalog/ernst-steinwald-co/vz-7/
Many thanks, Ales, much appreciated!
I am of the opinion that several houses likely made this style of decor, making ID by appearance alone to be untrustworthy. I think that the path to robust identifications of examples such as this is through the use of matching the same shape in different, but identifiable decors. This is a much more time consuming, but ultimately more reliable methodology.
In comparing your vase and Peggy's for example, the orange lining of her vase is what is causing the lighter colored areas in orange on the exterior, using a technique similar to crackle glass production.
In the case of your example, with the interior lining being white, I would think that the coloration visible on the exterior which is lighter, is as a result of the color of the glass used to "case" the object.
While the two vases, and others seen a the link appears similar from an exterior view, your example and Peggy's are differentiated by production techniques, which to me would likely point to similar appearing production by two different houses.
In the ID of Czech/Bohemian glass, simplistic assumptions (they look the same so they are the same) are the enemy of accurate and robust attributions.
Just my 2 cents worth.