A 1970s Czech Skrdlovice ‘Toffee’ glass vase, designed by Frantisek Vizner

Description

Frantisek Vízner’s designs for the Skrdlovice glassworks are united by their monumental feel, a use of complex techniques, and an exploration of form, surface texture, light, and optical effects. This vase, which has no real precedent, was designed in 1971 and appears in the Skrdlovice pattern book as pattern no. 7117. It has a typically simple form, being a series of cylinders. The feature of a cylinder encased in a weighty yet balanced and proportionate base recurs in Vízner’s work, and harks back to the traditional gathering-on-the-post technique used for making antique bottles.

The rows of applied, rounded square chunks contrast with the neck of the vase above them, and explore the effects of texture against smoothness. On other designs in the range, they cover the entire surface of the cylinder, creating a contrast between the exterior and interior. Colours included green, amber-topaz, brown, and colourless, and the colours may be reversed on some examples, which have a coloured core and colourless applications. Collectors often call these vases 'toffee' vases, as the browny-amber chunks look like lumps of toffee.

As all glass produced at Skrdlovice was entirely handmade, examples differ in terms of size, colour tone, and the precise application of the chunks. Although sculptural and able to stand on its own as a decorative object, the vase is also practical. Its monumental yet balanced feel is prescient of his later studio works, which further explore form, light and optical effects. As popular today as it was at the time, every collection of Vízner’s work or Skrdlovice glass must include at least one example.

6.6in (17cm) high.

Literature

Beranek & Skrdlovice: Legends of Czech Glass, by Robert Bevan Jones & Jindrich Parik, published by Mark Hill Publishing in 2014, p.85. The entire range is discussed with reproductions of original production drawings.

Czechoslovak Glass Review, published by Artia in 1971.

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