MOST ELEGANT & MOUTHWATERINGLY BEAUTIFUL CZECH ART GLASS VASE, DESIGNED BY JOSEF CVRCEK

A MOST ELEGANT & RARE CZECH ART GLASS SCULPTURAL VASE

A MOST ELEGANT & MOUTHWATERINGLY BEAUTIFUL DESIGN WITH CLEAN LINES, DESIGNED BY JOSEF CVRCEK FOR ZELEZNY BROD GLASSWORKS.

Rare hand-made art glass from behind the Iron Curtain : a unique opportunity to own your very own, very beautiful piece of 20th Century European History! With armies of collectors internationally now snapping up 20th Century Czech art glass, these high quality items with their groundbreaking designs are becoming both harder to find and more collectable by the day.

Dimensions : 276 x 160 mm

ZBS was created in 1948 as a result of nationalisation (at which time it was made up of nine glass factories in the town of Zelezny Brod). ZBS is probably best known for its popular free-formed organic vases and bowls, particularly those designed by Klinger during the 1950s- early 1960s. Zelezny Brod designs are currently hard to date as the ZBS catalogues were sold to a private collector and very little information is available in literature about individual ZBS designers. Design : probably late 1960s/early 1970s).

Czechoslovak Glass Review 1979-11 (p25) & 1982-12

Mark Hill : Hi Sklo Lo Sklo (2008) p.49

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.

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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 item is original and rare, hand-made Czech art glass (and not Italian Murano, Daum, Kosta Boda, Orrefors, Flygsfors, Swarovski, Leerdam, Val St Lambert, Whitefriars or Lalique studio glass). I personally imported this beauty directly from the Czech Republic for my own private collection.

* Appreciation and acknowledgement to Messrs Mark Hill and Jindrich Parik for their invaluable archival and reference material. XKOGA