MAGNIFICENT & VERY RARE MARIA STAHLIKOVA CZECH ART GLASS BOWL / ASHTRAY, DESIGNED FOR SKRDLOVICE

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

https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/1252633/Bookfinder

A VERY RARE & MAGNIFICENT SKRDLOVICE CZECH ART GLASS BOWL/ASHTRAY DESIGNED BY MARIA STAHLIKOVA

Škrdlovice is one of the 20th centurys greatest forgotten glass companies. For decades, the company was hidden from the world behind the Iron Curtain, and the major contribution it made to 20thC glass design is only now being uncovered and reappraised by design historians and collectors.

Founded in 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, by the enterprising and talented glassmaster Emanuel Beránek, the companys earliest designs were produced using waste broken glass, peat to fire the furnaces - and a huge amount of raw talent and sheer determination.

'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.

Against all odds, the company survived and flourished under Communist rule in the 1950s & 60s, exporting its vast and diverse range of colourful, curving glass across the world as far as Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The factory closed in 2008 and no longer exists : with armies of collectors internationally now snapping up the magnificent items of innovative design produced by them, their high quality art glass is rapidly becoming harder to find and more collectable by the day.

- Width :  210 mm / Height : 63 mm / Weight : 956 g

The Beranek Glassworks shortly before its closure in 2008

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

* I personally sourced this beauty from the Czech Republic for my own, private collection many moons ago. Sadly, with retirement now on the horizon, I am compelled to make space and I sincerely hope that it will bring its new owner much joy! XKO2A