An impressive late 19th Century French cameo glass vase etched and enamelled with a hive of bees pollinating flowers against a pale yellow field, with very fine detail and colour, signed in gilded letters to base Daum Freres

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Height:                                      23 cm                                    

Condition:                               Excellent Original Condition

Circa:                                         1900

Materials:                               Cameo and Enamelled Glass

SKU:                                           6213

ABOUT

Daum’s unique technique common to all was that a clear vessel was blown with colour only on the inner surface or layer. An acid resist landscape was painted free-hand onto the vessel which was then etched by plunging into a hydrofluoric acid bath. The outer surface was then polished which gave the trees a ‘third dimension’ as the onlooker can see through the clear glass to the inner colour. Then the background was frosted, tricking the eye into thinking it is seeing coloured glass.

Three types of enamel were painted by the artist to complete the design: transparent enamel for the three dimensional trees, opaque enamel for the snow or the ground and a polychrome enamel for the details in the distance which could be hills or trees. Finally the piece was reintroduced to the heat to anneal the enamels with the base glass.

Some very rare examples such as the ‘Deep Winter’ design had an additional and more complicated process of applying a layer of cameo glass to the outer body before painting the acid resist. This had the effect of giving a more dense layer of snow or summer fields that could be further worked to give additional features in the landscape.

The many landscape vases of Daum were always examples of excellence and the skill of several different craftsmen.

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