Malagasy Bowls and Baskets

Bring the healing energy of rock crystal into your home with this large scale beautiful carved bowl. This carved Rock Crystal bowl with scalloped edges was sourced in Paris. The qual...

Kastle large bowl, Murano glass, by Karim Rashid, 21st century. Karim Rashid has conceived for Purho a mini collection of bowls and vases characte...

French Modern Carved Rock Crystal Diminutive Organic Bowl This exquisite modern French bowl is masterfully hand-carved from a single piece of natural rock crystal, showcasing its st...

Unique Swedish folk-art bowl in a very unusual boat like shape. This wooden bowl is large and wide with date “1782” underneath along with a set of initials. An unusual detail is the ...

Article: Murano glass shell element Producer: Cenedese Vetri Origin: Murano, Italy Decade: 1970s This original glass shell was produced in the 1970s i...

Large yellow hand painted porcelain jardinière bowl on a wooden stand.

Article: Crystal glass vase bowl Producer: Daum Nancy FRANCE (marked) Age: 1970s   Wonderful heavy glass element designed and produced by DAUM in France in the 1970s. This...

Large asymmetrically shaped aluminum bowl. Makers mark on underside .

A fine carved rock crystal square bowl, created by Phoenix Gallery.

19th century yellow ware mixing bowls. Wonderful color with a white stripe going across the top and each has a beautiful blue design within th...

Rock crystal vessels were highly demanded and valuable in Medieval times. Inventories from European royal houses and the highest aristocratic families detail the important and sophisticated collections of ewers and bowls. Rock crystal has also been used extensively in religious art. Fine European reliquaries were also made of Rock Crystal including gems, enamel and other precious materials. The work of rock crystal is very ancient. The materials has been worked and valued for its solidity and its purity: it has been believed to be water ice permanently frozen. Our superb example is a gold-mounted rock crystal bowl with enamel. The items origin is not clear and various features and characteristics may lead us to think of different origins and periods of creation. A single piece of stone mounted with gold could be a Milanese work. Although the cut could be French as similar pieces belonged to the French royalty (especially the art lover Duc de Berry, (1340-1416)). French and Italian crystal cutters have been active at the same time and it is often difficult to differentiate their works. Islamic art also influenced European artists. The famous Fatimid treasury provided examples of their sophistication and quality. The seven ewers carved for the Fatimid Imans (known as "The Magnificent Seven") display impressive quality of both rock crystal and enamelled mounts. Even though not identical to works by French silversmith Jean-Valentin Morel who was appointed goldsmith to Queen Victoria in 1852 or Reinhold Vasters (1927-1909) another renown German goldsmith who embellished older rock crystal items, there are similarities between these works. Both reduce their use of colour to black and white on pure gold mounts. Moreover the black enamel design is quite similar. Also, no gems are included and no human figure is represented. Sotherby's described our bowl as a "German Rock crystal bowl with later gold mounts, 15th century." Other items from the period from Germany or Austria are usually silver mounted and the decorations are more colourful and include gems or human figures but they have in common enamel motifs. In our case, the gold foot, handles and rim could date from the 1900s. An expert has established the foot, handles and rim are pure gold. The goldsmith responsible for the improvement of the bowl is possibly the most famous Reinhold Vasters whose work has been displayed in the greatest museums such as the V&A in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Rock Crystal bowl we have is gold mounted. The gold shows in enamelled details that are black and white. The gold handles are also enamelled with black acanthus-like leaves. The enamelling method could be "champleve" or "painting metal". The metal that is usually preferred is copper but these techniques are also applied to gold. The bowl itself could be from the 14th century. It's cut reminds of an estimated 14th century rock crystal ball bearing the Buoncompagni family arms...

Pair of semi precious Agathe bowl , warm brown, white and black tones. Hand carved oval shape in Brazil circa 1990. Good condition Set if 2 price for one Long 13,5 cm width 8cm h...