XX-LARGE FREEFORM & ELEGANT CZECH ART GLASS DISH, DESIGNED BY EMANUEL BERANEK FOR SKRDLOVICE IN 1956

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MORE THAN HALF A METER WIDE!

A VERY LARGE FREEFORM AND ELEGANT ŠRDLOVICE DISH, WITH INTERNAL BUBBLES COMBINED WITH BLUE, RED AND YELLOW SPIRALS, DESIGNED BY THE FAMOUS EMANUEL BERáNEK (1899-1972) in 1956

Rare hand-made art glass from behind the Iron Curtain : a unique opportunity to acquire your very own, very beautiful piece of 20th Century European History!

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‘Beránek Glass’ was nationalised during communist rule in 1948 and became Škrdlovice glassworks. Ownership was returned to the Beránek family in 1992 when it became ‘Beránek Glass’ again.

The factory closed in 2008 and no longer exists : with armies of collectors internationally now snapping up the magnificent items produced by them, their high-quality art glass is becoming both harder to find and more collectable by the day.

- Model : 5674 (re-released in 1964 as pattern 6445 and in 1971 as pattern 7106)

- Height : approx 90 mm 

- Length x width : approx 530 x 115 mm

- Weight : 1,640 kg

- Produced by the Skrdlovice Glass factory

Literature : Bevan-Jones, Robert and Parik, Jindrich (authors); Hill, Mark (general editor). Škrdlovice & Beránek: Legends of Czech Glass, 2014, 128 pp (similar example reproduced on pages 45-46 (double page reproduction). Highly recommended reading!

Along with Scandinavia and Italy, Czechoslovakia was one of the leading European producers and exporters of glass across the world during the second half of the 20th Century. The 1950s-70s saw a renaissance in Czech glass design that confirmed and re-established the country's global reputation in this area.

From behind the Iron Curtain, highly talented and exceptionally skilled designers pushed the boundaries of 20th century glass design and produced unique art glass masterpieces that went on to inspire visually stunning ranges and exquisite works of art in sparkling glass.

Exported and sold around the world as ‘art glass for the home’, these modern and vibrantly coloured designs became enormously successful.

During the last five years or so international tastes and fashions have brought Czech post war art glass very much into vogue once again and hence the renewed appreciation of the glass hierarchy and the public alike.

Czech art glass has rapidly been becoming the latest highly sought after additions to prized art glass collections all over the world.

Below: Master glassmaker Jan Juda in his home with a larger version of a similar dish.

* Please note that glass from the mid-20th century is vintage glassware and age related signs of wear such as small fine surface scratches/marks should be expected. The items are hand-made, they may have imperfections such as bubbles, inclusions and lumps within the glass. Tool marks from where they have been shaped and worked in the manufacturing process can often be seen. As this indicates authenticity and forms an inherent part of the character of handmade crystal glass, these are normally not considered as faults by collectors.

* This magnificent vase is original and rare, hand-made Czech art glass (and not Italian Murano, Daum, Kosta Boda, Orrefors, Flygsfors, Swarovski, Leerdam, Val St Lambert or Lalique studio glass). I personally handpicked & imported this beauty from the Czech Republic.

* Appreciation and acknowledgement to Messrs Mark Hill and Jindrich Parik for their invaluable archival and reference material. [1]