Images(5)

vase

Object NameVase with Birds in Foliage

Engraver Aristide-Michel Colotte (French, 1885-1959)

ManufacturerProbably Baccarat

Made FromLead Glass

Dateabout 1928

Techniquemold-bllown, wheel-cut, engraved,chiseled,polished

SizeOverall H: 35.6 cm, Diam: 16.1 cm

Accession Number94.3.115

Curatorial Area(s)

Modern

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Aristide-Michel Colotte (1885-1959) was a French cutter and engraver who initially worked at the Baccarat glassworks. In 1926, he established a studio at Nancy, where he refined his cutting skills. Colotte worked with heavy blocks of cast crystal that he usually acquired from Baccarat. He sculpted these blocks using a variety of cold-working techniques, such as cutting, acid etching, chiseling, and filing. Colotte carved vessels with abstract, geometric decoration in the Art Deco style, as well as human and animal figures. His first sculptured vessels were exhibited at the 1927 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in Paris, for which he was awarded the prize “Best Worker in France.” This vase, which depicts birds in thick foliage, stands on its original black glass base. It is signed by Colotte with the notation “pièce unique,” which means “one-of-a-kind.”

Place Made

France, Nancy

Physical DescriptionColorless with frosted areas; base: opaque black lead glasses; mold-blown, wheel-cut, engraved, chiseled with hand tools, polished. (a) Massive, tall ovoid vase with thick walls and decoration in high relief, stands on separate plinth; inside rim of thick narrowed opening carved as concave ring, top edge ground and polished flat; exterior of opening curves down sharply and cut to form a broad circular shoulder band that is left polished; band curves into cylindrical walls of vessel that taper in slightly toward solid tiered foot; wall decoration consists of large stylized geometric scalloped half-flowers (with overlapping crystal-shaped centers) extending down from rim band and up from foot to enclose scene of four perched birds on abstract angular foliage background, birds are in various profile poses (one with an outstretched wing, one in sleeping posture), overall matte finish with occasional highlights left polished; interior of vessel tapers to narrow solid domed base point; exterior of solid foot carved into three unequal broad stepped concentric rings left polished; base ground and polished flat, no pontil; (b) low square black plinth with deeply-carved circular inset (unpolished carving forms concentric rings with center dimple); top edge deeply facet-cut, exterior surfaces polished, base flat, unpolished; inscribed in block letters at edge of base: "CoLoTTe (in large letters)/NANCY/PIECE UNIQUE".
Provenance

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