Christmas 2008 Something Old
i Overlay glass jar
Chinese
Made in Qing dynasty Beijing, probably in the palace workshops, this 19th-century covered jar is fashioned from overlay glass – the base layer imperial yellow, the subsequent ones in shades of blue, black, red, brown and green.
The latter are cut to form traditional Chinese images, including bands of clouds, storks in flight, lotus leaves, fruiting vines, lingzhi (herbs and mushrooms of spiritual potency), and ruyi (ceremonial sceptres symbolising power and good fortune).
Set on a pleasingly squat ovoid body and a gently domed lid, all are surmounted by a bold finial of ribbed and tied vegetal form. $2,200.
ii Cocktail shaker
Czechoslovakian
When the ancient kingdom of Bohemia was absorbed into newly formed Czechoslovakia after the first world war it brought with it a long and illustrious tradition of glassmaking – one that was to continue in the Czech glass factories of the 20th century.
Particularly sought-after are the coloured and either cut or engraved art deco wares made in the 1930s. This excellent example is a green-tinted glass cocktail shaker with features including ribbing around the base, a mushroom stopper, and characteristically virtuoso intaglio (flat rather than in relief) engraved floral decoration. £85.
iii
Rummer
English
Short-stemmed, “bucket”-bowled, heavy drinking goblets known as rummers first appeared in Britain around 1780. Originally employed for drinking “toddy” (rum punch), or the traditional naval drink of rum and water, they were also used during the 19th century to serve ale and beer; nowadays they are also sometimes used for red wine. This fine late-Georgian example was made in about 1820. Raised on a ball-knop stem above a conical foot, its bowl is engraved with the monogram of the original owner within a cartouche comprising a wreath and bow surmounted by a crown. The reverse is engraved with flower heads and a bird in flight. £180.
iv Tournesols
vase
René Lalique
Although originally a master jeweller, René Lalique (1860-1945) is best known for his superb glassware from between the wars. Although mostly mass produced in his factories using innovative industrial techniques, these wares almost invariably display exceptionally high standards of design and craftsmanship comparable to individually hand-crafted pieces. This particular vase was moulded from opalescent, electric blue glass and dates to around 1927. Named “Tournesols” (French for sunflowers), its relief pattern encapsulates the gradual shift in art deco design during the late 1920s and early 1930s from naturalistic and sculptural to more stylised and geometric. $3,600.
v Wine bottle
English
From around 1640 to 1820 the favoured vessel for keeping wine between the cask and the table was the hand-blown glass bottle – prior to that stoneware flasks had been used, and after that the machine-moulded bottle came into its own. Fashioned on a pontil rod from robust, dark green glass, hand-blown bottles were produced in variations on four shapes: the shaft and globe; the mallet; the cylinder; and, as here, the onion. Made in England in about 1720 and highly collectable, its characteristic features include an applied “string” rim and the original owner’s crowned seal. £3,000.
Judith Miller is the author of annual antiques and collectables guides for Miller’s
..........................................
Something New
1 Platter with cover
Scholten & Baijings
Part of a series of six pieces called Table Glass from Dutch designers Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings, produced in collaboration with Royal Leerdam Crystal and shown last year at the International Glass Art Fair in Leerdam, Holland, before being exhibited in Milan in April. This platter and cover made of pink transparent and white opaque cristals supérieurs that have been overlaid and then scored by hand with a diamond cutter. These are limited to an edition of eight and priced accordingly. A more affordable series, also with Royal Leerdam Crystal, goes on sale
on Sunday at Rotterdam’s Vivid Gallery, which is hosting a solo show of the duo’s work until January 3. €4,000.
2 Blur vase
Big-Game
The work of Big-Game, the design collective made up of Grégoire Jeanmonod, Elric Petit and Augustin Scott de Martinville, appears regularly on this page. Their new hand-blown Blur vase was presented in April during Milan’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile, part of a series of objects they say play with the notion of blurriness. Although the mushrooming shape is pleasing on its own, more interesting is the idea that cut flowers are placed within the 60cm vase, where they are slightly shrouded from view by the opaque glass. €720.
3 Lanterne Marine
Barber Osgerby
After being presented as prototypes in Milan in April, with a stop in Sardinia’s Porto Cervo in the summer, Lanterne Marine has landed in London with its own show at the Vessel Gallery, opened this week and running until
the end of December. The set of three large, limited-edition, hand-blown vases is produced by Venetian manufacturer Venini and designed by London-based duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. Two interlocking pieces of hand-blown glass are kept in place by an anodised, laser-cut, crinoline-like frame, inspired by the cages used to protect hanging lamps and buoys on the boats that took the designers to the island of Murano, where Venini is based. £6,650.
4 Kohta
Harri Koskinen
One of a new series of numbered art-glass pieces from Iittala by Finnish designer Harri Koskinen called Art Works, Kohta is made of two different- coloured mouth-blown cylinders, one inside the other, creating a third colour where the sections overlap. This year the designer, who has been a regular Iittala collaborator since he won a scholarship with the company in the mid-1990s, was awarded the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize from Sweden’s Röhsska Museum. At SEK1m ($142,500) it’s one of the largest design prizes and underlines the consensus that Koskinen is one of the Nordic region’s foremost talents. €950.
5 Ice stopper glasses
Angelo Mangiarotti
As a huge fan of Milan-based architect/ engineer/designer/sculptor Angelo Mangiarotti, I recently travelled to Mantua in Italy just to see an exhibition on his work at the Casa del Mantegna (which closes on Sunday).
His designs from the 1960s-1980s and his 1990s experimental sculptural pieces fetch serious money at galleries such as London’s Themes & Variations, Milan’s Nilufar and auctioneer Phillips de Pury. Retailer Murray Moss is also a fan and has stocked Mangiarotti glassware by Italian manufacturer Colle since opening his New York store-cum-gallery in 1994. These clear mouth-blown crystal glasses combine Mangiarotti’s sculptural side with that of the engineer; the kinks not only assist holding the glass but stop ice from escaping when you drink. $330 for six.
Nick Vincon is special projects director at Wallpaper* magazine
