Kralik frit vase with cobalt threads and windings - another take on pink and blue

Trying to encapsulate everything that's going on with this vase in the title of this article was tricky! The pale pink color of this vase by Kralik is the only thing about it that is subtle. The vessel is rolled in a very fine frit (it is the texture of a fine grade of sandpaper), wrapped in a web of cobalt threading, then finally wrapped again with a serpentine coil of the same blue glass. Small ground and polished pontil. Pink and blue was a favorite color combination at Kralik, and this is a variety I've never seen before. Every time I find a piece like this, it reminds me that the best Kralik decorators stood at the furnace! You don't see a lot of enameled, engraved, or cut Kralik glass, but you do see countless varieties of hot worked glass that explored not only possibilities of shape, but also of color.