Mdina Glass was founded in the Maltese town of Mdina in 1968 by Michael Harris and Eric Dobson. The town had no history of glass making but the venture proved to be a success. Its wares, free formed organic glassware, often in colours inspired from the sea, sand, earth and sky, proved very popular with tourists visiting Malta. This vase is one of the earlier productions made by Mdina (the format of the signature confirms this) probably dating to the 1970s. The design is known as the ‘tiger pattern’ and is believed to have been created by Eric Dobson himself. All the pieces in the range have individual variations but this particular version is extremely pleasing and highly characteristic of Mdina’s naturalistic style.