Very Tall Berluze Bottle Vase c1930

Description

Heading : A Very Tall Berluze Bottle Vase
Date : c1930
Origin : Nancy. France. Either Daum et Cie ( Belle Etoile) or Andre Delatte
Bowl Features : Mottled orange and tangerine
Type : Lead glass
Size : Height 52.4cm
Condition : Exemplary
Restoration : None
Weight : 1075grams

Additional Information : The uncertainty as to the provenance of this vase is unsurprising when you consider the convolutions that swirled around the production of similar items in the early part of the 20th century. They were manufactured by all of the main glasshouses in and around Nancy and in France – Daum. Schneider. Delatte. Gallé. Legras and Meisenthal. Gallé and Meisenthal only produced them for their original intended use – by workers at their benches for the consumption of water – and it was Daum who first used the shape as the basis for a commercial product.

Delatte noted the success of the range and earnestly set about producing almost identical pieces – which prompted Daum to initiate court proceedings claiming infringement of copyright. Delatte defended himself vigorously. to the point of naming his range of glassware ‘Galinette’ inferring that it was in the style of Gallé. and most definitely not Daum. His defence lawyers also produced a facsimile of a mural. copied from its original site at the Iraqi palace of Jawsaq al-Khaqani in Samarra. depicting very similar vases – with the source image dating from the 9th century. Not unreasonably. the ruling was that Daum could not possibly hold any sort of exclusive rights over a design which had demonstrably been in the public domain for over 1000 years – and the machinations of the Nancy-based contingent were summarily dismissed.