Retro Art Glass: Magnificent Blown Cranberry Glass
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1 month ago
Fantastic hand-blown cranberry glass striking fish.
It's a lunker!!! Huge art glass fish measures 21' long, weighs almost 5 lbs.
This prize catch was made of high quality glass, handblown by a skilled artist. The pink glass is called 'cranberry'. The color is acheived by adding real gold to the glass recipe. The cranberry glass is encased in a thick layer of colorless glass. Blowing two colors of glass together is called 'Sommerso'.
The tail, five fins and solid black eyes were formed separately, then applied to the fish body. The open mouth is beveled and polished. The mouth and tail area are slightly darker, this is due to the pink glass being thicker at those points.
There are no inclusions in the fine glass. The blower managed to produce this giant with no errors (very difficult with hand blown glass). The glass is smooth and brilliantly translucent. The lines you see in the body area on the images come from the background.
The interior is hollow. It is a stunning decor focal point, but much too precious to put water inside for flowers (it would be difficult and dangerous to dry the hollow center). Shown in image no. 4 with a large blown glass goldfish bowl to help show it's enormous size. This is the largest blown fish we've seen to date.
Fish vessels were popular in the mid-20th century. Hand-blown glass is a rarity today, as even the finest glass on the market today is usually machined. Hot glass studios in the Pacific Northwest are again producing fine blown glass, but we do not believe this is a new creation. Estimated circa 1920s - 1960s, Murano Italy. Maker unknown, but obviously from a fine glass house of the past. In Excellent condition. retroartglass.com
