Glass

Glass figure of the head of a Sea Horse Head, Murano style, second half C20th

Price: £45

A crystal glass figure of the head of a sea horse modelled in semi abstract form with a raised mane and horn, pointed ears and an open mouth, the base flat with a matt pontil mark to the centre, the clear glass encasing diagonal stripes in black and white which form diamond patterns when viewed. Heads of sea horses, horses and even zebras were made at the glassworks at Murano, some being tentatively attributed to one or more of the designers there. The style of the modelling is similar and some even employ the striped decoration seen here but there is no exact parallel. A Murano workshop still seems the most likely though and the semi abstract design would fit with a dating to the 1960s or 1970s.

A streaky dark grey/green and clear glass knobbly bowl, Whitefriars, 1960s/1970s

Price: £55

An amorphous rounded glass bowl with heavily modelled, undulating sides producing a ‘knobbly’ effect, the clear glass streaked with dark grey/green glass trails. This semi abstract, almost organic design is well known and was produced at the Whitefriars glassworks in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Founded by James Powell in 1834, who bought an existing glassworks in Whitefriars, London, the firm continued through the generations, relocating to Wealdstone in Middlesex in 1923. Many designers worked for it including Geoffrey Baxter, who created the celebrated ‘banjo’ and ‘drunken bricklayer’ vases, but bowls of this form and similar pieces with a ‘knobbly’ form were designed by William Wilson, Whitefriars’ chief designer, and Harry Dyer, this particular bowl with the pattern number 9613 and to be found in the catalogues from 1964 to 1973 (see image 8 for the 1964 catalogue). Unfortunately the high labour costs of handmade glass and the economic difficulties in the UK in the late 1970s made Whitefriars uncompetitive and it ceased trading in 1980 after which its factory was demolished.

Cranberry hobnail glass Vase, Fenton Art Glass USA, mid C20th

Price: £45

A glass vase of beaker form slightly flaring towards the exaggeratedly crimped top rim with six ‘peaks’, the cranberry coloured glass blending into white towards the top and studded with small raised spheres. The decoration here is termed ‘hobnail’ from its resemblance to the small studs used on the soles of boots. Mould made, it enjoyed great popularity in the Victorian era, usually in coloured glass. Lemonade sets in the design with a jug and matching glasses were particularly popular. The hobnail design was taken up by the American glassworks, Fenton Glass, in 1939 and was sold in great quantities during the second world war and thereafter. At first the pieces were made in French opalescent, green opalescent and cranberry opalescent glass but in 1950 an additional milk glass range was introduced which was to become the most popular of all. The shapes were often elaborate with frilled rims as here, but the beaker shape seems to have been less common. Dating is most likely to the 1940s.

Twister glass Bowl, Kjell Engman for Kosta Boda, signed and with label, late C20th

Price: £180

A heavily blown glass bowl of inverted conical form with a semi hemispherical spreading foot decorated with minute flecks in off-white, brown and orange in swirling bands, the base with an etched signature ‘Kosta Boda’ ‘K Engman’ and the numbers ‘57971’ and an attached label ‘KOSTA BODA since 1742’.

Kosta Boda, previously known as Kosta Glasbruk, is a Swedish glassmaking company founded by two foreign officers in Charles XII's army, Anders Koskull and Georg Bogislaus Staël von Holstein, in 1742.It is located in Kosta, Sweden. Early production consisted of window glass, chandeliers and drinking glasses. From the 1840s, the factory was at the forefront of new trends and technical developments, producing pressed glass, and in the 1880s setting up a new glass-cutting workshop. In 1903, the company merged with the Reijmyre glassworks but both retained their own names and Kosta went on to maintain its reputation as one of the leading Swedish manufacturers with a range of fine art glass and tableware by distinguished designers such as Vicke Lindstrand, artistic director from 1950-1973.

Kjell Engman (see image 11) has been a designer at Kosta Boda since 1948. Also a professional rock musician, his works are often held to display a dancing feel and joie de vivre derived from his musical background. On the Kosta Boda website he writes “In my view, the glass is the pen for writing my stories. I don’t want to depress my audience; rather, I want to offer them joy and fantasy. My art should make people smile; it should be something positive.” Perhaps something of his sense of fun can be seen in this bowl, one of the largest of the range produced by Kosta Boda. which incorporates colour with movement and is often termed ‘Twister’. These bowls seem not now to be available from the firm direct and probably date to the late twentieth century. This example is of exceptional size and in pristine condition, an imposing centrepiece for a modern interior.

Wylde Green Perfume Bottle, Lesley Ann Clarke Glass, signed and dated 2019

Price: £75

A glass perfume bottle and stopper, the bottle of flattened ovoid form with a flaring oval dished rim, the stopper ovoid with a rounded knob and tapering below, the base flat with an etched signature and date, the bottle decorated with a swirling design in greens, blues and white with gold flecks, the stopper white with swirling ribbon streaks.

The signature at the base is for Lesley Ann Clarke, a glassmaker based in St Ives, Cornwall (see image 8). She writes herself “Over the years many artists and craftspeople have come to live in Cornwall for its light and wondrous views. I was born here and knew no other. My work with blown glass makes full use of the light and the flowing nature of hot glass. To grow up in St Ives is an art lesson in itself.” Her work is exhibited at various galleries in the UK and all her pieces employ individual naturalistic designs in variety of shapes and colours of which this perfume bottle from the ‘Wylde Green’ range, dated to 2019, is an excellent example.

Murano style Art Glass Paperweight, second half C20th

Price: £45

An art glass paperweight of tapering ovoid form with a flat base, the clear crystal glass enclosing a cluster of bubbles emerging from a dark grey rock like formation below. This design of ‘controlled’ bubbles occurs on paperweights from a wide variety of sources including the glassworks at Murano, Venice, a few of them retaining the original label with wording including ‘Made in Italy’ ‘Murano’ ‘Venezia’. The marked examples tend to have a crisp flat bottom, as here, sometimes with a distinct inner roundel to the centre of the foot, again as here. A Venetian provenance, then, is a possibility but no more than that. But, whoever the maker, this is certainly a piece demonstrating a high quality of both manufacture and design. Dating is most likely to the 1960s onwards when ‘organic’ and rounded forms were very much in fashion.