HALLMARK DESIGN: SKRDLOVICE SOMERSO VASE, DESIGNED BY JAN BERANEK IN THE 1950s

VERIFIED SELLER SINCE 2009  *  > 135,000 100% POSITIVE TRANSACTIONS  *  BUY WITH COMPLETE PEACE OF MIND

A CLASSIC AND HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER 'HALLMARK DESIGN': STUNNING AND VISUALLY IMPACTFUL

MAGNIFICENT ŠKRDLOVICÉ/BERANEK SOMERSO VASE, DESIGNED BY THE FAMOUS JAN BERÁNEK IN THE 1950s (1933-)

A BEAUTY OF NOTE AND MAGNIFICENT COLLECTOR'S ITEM 

Rare hand-made art glass from behind the Iron Curtain : a unique opportunity to acquire your very own, very beautiful piece of 20th Century European History!

Beránek Glass was nationalised during communist rule in 1948 and became Škrdlovice glassworks. Ownership was returned to the Beránek family in 1992 when it became Beránek Glass again. The factory closed in 2008 and no longer exists : with armies of collectors internationally now snapping up the magnificent items produced by them, their high-quality art glass is becoming both harder to find and more collectable by the day.

The form, visual and physical weight, optical effects created by the applications and use of transparent glass are typical of production at Škrdlovice during the late 1950s.

- Height : 267 mm / Weight : 2,027 kg

- Vintage glass in good condition with minor and insignificant surface scratches and age-related indications of wear (base & surface)

- Literature : Bevan-Jones, Robert and Parik, Jindrich (authors); Hill, Mark (general editor). Škrdlovice & Beránek: Legends of Czech Glass, 2014, 128 pp (similar examples reproduced on pages 42 and 43; also see image at the end where this item is highlighted as a 'hallmark design').

Along with Scandinavia and Italy, Czechoslovakia was one of the leading European producers and exporters of glass across the world during the second half of the 20th Century. The 1950s-70s saw a renaissance in Czech glass design that confirmed and re-established the country's global reputation in this area. 

From behind the Iron Curtain, highly talented and exceptionally skilled designers pushed the boundaries of 20th century glass design and produced unique art glass masterpieces that went on to inspire visually stunning ranges and exquisite works of art in sparkling glass. Exported and sold around the world as art glass for the home, these modern and vibrantly coloured designs became enormously successful. 

During the last five years or so international tastes and fashions have brought Czech post war art glass very much into vogue once again and hence the renewed appreciation of the glass hierarchy and the public alike. Czech art glass has rapidly been becoming the latest highly sought after additions to prized art glass collections all over the world.

* Please note that glass from the mid-20th century is vintage glassware and age related signs of wear such as small fine surface scratches/marks should be expected. The items are hand-made, they may have imperfections such as bubbles, inclusions and lumps within the glass. Tool marks from where they have been shaped and worked in the manufacturing process can often be seen. As this indicates authenticity and forms an inherent part of the character of handmade crystal glass, these are normally not considered as faults by collectors.

* This magnificent vase is an original and rare, hand-made Czech art glass vase (and not Italian Murano, Daum, Kosta Boda, Orrefors, Flygsfors, Swarovski, Leerdam, Val St Lambert or Lalique studio glass).