1970s Maltese Mdina Pulled Ears 'Poppa', Amber, Purple, Blue and Yellow Biomorphic Art Glass Vase

THE ITEM

This stunning work of late 1970s Modernist hand blown art glass by Maltese glassworks Mdina. 

The bottle form is faceted, the four sides creating an abstract cube. Within the faceted clear glass-casing is a swirling of colour. The colours include a lightly translucent deep Cerulean blue and opaquely pale cream edged in golden yellow intermingling with a wandering smoky thread of Russet red. The colours together makes up Mdina's 'Tiger' series. 

A BIT OF HISTORY

Mdina glassware was founded in 1968 in the town of Mdina, Malta at a time when Mdina had no history of glass making. Mdina was founded by Michael Harris, a lecturer in industrial glass design at the Royal College of Art. Attracted by incentives offered by newly independent Malta, Eric Dobson and Michael Harris (Royal College of Art colleagues) ventured out to Mediterranean island from the UK with the aim of opening Malta's first ever glassware manufacturer, which they achieved spectacularly. Mdina's style was free-formed organic glassware, often in colours inspired from the sea, sand, earth and sky. 

CONDITION

Excellent. No chips, cracks or repairs. There is negligible surface wear that is commensurable with the age of the piece. The vase bears the 'MDINA GLASS' paper label and the underside of the base is signed 'Mdina' as well as dated '1979'. 

MEASUREMENTS

Height: c. 7.7" / 19.5  cm tall (from base to rim) x c. 3.7" /  9.3 cm in diameter. Unpackaged weight: 2.1 kg / 2,106 g

NOTES

Vase will be securely packaged and shipping will be insured. Shipping will be combined for multiple items.

THE ITEM
Fish head, Hammerhead, Axe head, Angelfish are all acceptable names which have been used interoperably for this beautiful piece of art glass craftsmanship. I absolutely love the way the light filters through the translucent coppery glass and how the tiny bubbles rest on the pale sandy layers. If you've not yet realised, I'm talking about the Mdina Earthtones colour design, which does indeed look like beautiful layers of strata.

As the eyes draw back, you can see the marvellous technique in which the clear glass casing was applied, enveloping the core in a 'V' at either side of the neck. There are a few smooth creases and trailing detail that amplifies the organic vibe. I could go on ... but tis best appreciated in person, in a visual and tactile manner - this beauty weighs in at over 2kg!

This piece of art glass would storm any display but I feel featuring it on its own and somewhere where it could catch the sunlight during different times of the day would do it best justice. Of course, you could also try and use it as a 'vase' but given that the rim only measures 5mm wide, it would need to be 1 flower and one with a thin stem ...

CONDITION

Excellent. Not a scratch, chip or crack to the main body of the vase. There is 1 original 'Mdina Glass' sticker to one side and a sticker mark on the other, a few movement marks on the base - commensurable with age but apart from that, there's only the etched 'Mdina' signature and '1981', the year it was made.

MEASUREMENTS
c. 10" / 25 cm tall (from the centre of the rim to base) x c 8.2" / 21 cm wide (across its widest point)

Unpackaged weight: c. 2.5 kg / 2,549 g

NOTES
Vase will be securely packaged and shipping will be insured.
Shipping will be combined for multiple items.

A BIT OF HISTORY
Mdina glassware was founded in 1968 by Michael Harris, a lecturer in industrial glass design at the Royal College of Art. Attracted by incentives offered by newly independent Malta, Eric Dobson and Michael Harris (Royal College of Art colleagues) ventured out to Mediterranean island from the UK with the aim of opening Malta's first ever glassware manufacturer, which they achieved spectacularly.