{"product_id":"villeroy-boch-amethyst-cased-glass-vase-optic-moulded-lobes-with-a-scalloped-rim-heavy-clear-casing-over-a-deep-amethyst-core-acid-etched-signature-to-the-base-germany-c-1970-1995","title":"Villeroy \u0026 Boch Amethyst Cased Glass Vase, Optic-Moulded Lobes with a Scalloped Rim, Heavy Clear Casing over a Deep Amethyst Core, Acid-Etched Signature to the Base, Germany, c. 1970–1995","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA heavy cased glass vase in \u003cstrong\u003edeep amethyst\u003c\/strong\u003e, signed on the base by one of the oldest manufacturing houses in Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe form is a \u003cstrong\u003ebellied baluster\u003c\/strong\u003e — wide and full through the body, drawn in to a short narrow neck, and finished with a \u003cstrong\u003escalloped rim\u003c\/strong\u003e that follows the lobes rather than cutting across them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe whole body is \u003cstrong\u003eoptic-moulded in vertical lobes\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the lobes are the point. Where each flute folds, the coloured layer is thickest in cross-section and reads almost black. In the centre of each panel it is thinnest and reads bright amethyst. The result is a \u003cstrong\u003edark-to-light alternation running the whole way round\u003c\/strong\u003e that shifts as you move past it, and which no photograph fully catches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe glass is cased\u003c\/strong\u003e: a coloured core under a thick clear skin. It is legible at the foot, where the ribs run nearly colourless and the amethyst deepens as it climbs into the body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt has real weight in the hand.\u003c\/strong\u003e The casing is substantial rather than token, and the vase sits down on a surface with the heft that only thick glass has.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eSigned on the underside in \u003cstrong\u003eacid-etched script: Villeroy \u0026amp; Boch\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVilleroy \u0026amp; Boch have been manufacturing since 1748\u003c\/strong\u003e, which makes the house older than the United States. They are best known for ceramics — the Mettlach wares are collected worldwide — but the glass and crystal side of the business has run alongside the pottery for generations, and this is a product of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmethyst is the difficult colour, and that is the reason to want this one.\u003c\/strong\u003e Purple glass is struck with manganese, and the margin for error is narrow: too little and it goes grey, too much or the wrong furnace atmosphere and it turns muddy brown-violet. Green, by contrast, is what glass does on its own when there is iron in the sand — which is precisely why green glass has been everywhere for two thousand years and good amethyst has not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCasing doubles the work again.\u003c\/strong\u003e A cased vessel is made by gathering one colour of glass over another and working the two as a single body, and they must expand and contract in step or the piece cracks as it cools. What the technique buys is depth: a solid-coloured vase is the same tone everywhere, while a cased one is dark in its folds and luminous in its faces. That is the effect here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe optic mould is the third operation.\u003c\/strong\u003e A gather is blown into a ribbed mould to take the lobes, then withdrawn and blown out further, which stretches the ribs and softens them into the swelling shape they hold now. It is why the flutes run with the form rather than sitting on it as applied decoration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDated on the evidence available: the \u003cstrong\u003eacid-etched script signature\u003c\/strong\u003e, the optic-moulded cased construction, and the form, measured against documented Villeroy \u0026amp; Boch optic-ribbed glass of the same idiom. \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1970–1995.\u003c\/strong\u003e No model number, line name or paper label survives on the piece, and none is claimed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCased glass vase, optic-moulded, signed\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaker\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eVilleroy \u0026amp; Boch, Germany — founded 1748\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 10 in tall by 6½ in at the widest\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBellied baluster with a short narrow neck and a scalloped rim following the lobes\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eGlass\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCased — deep amethyst core under a thick clear casing; optic-moulded in vertical lobes, reading near-black at the flutes and bright amethyst across the panels\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAcid-etched script signature to the underside: Villeroy \u0026amp; Boch. No model number, line name or paper label present.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1970–1995. Dated on the acid-etched signature and the optic-moulded cased construction, against documented Villeroy \u0026amp; Boch glass in the same idiom.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eExcellent. \u003cstrong\u003eNo chips, no cracks, no bruises and no repairs.\u003c\/strong\u003e The rim is smooth and even the whole way round, the casing is clear and bright with no clouding or sickness, and the amethyst is strong and unfaded. The underside carries the light scratching normal to a glass vase that has stood on shelves, along with faint traces of old label residue; none of it is visible when the piece is upright. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eMost rooms need one dark object, and very few people own a good one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA deep amethyst vase with weight to it is that object. It anchors a shelf of pale ceramics, breaks up a run of brass, and gives the eye somewhere to land on a console table that has gone flat. Against warm wood it is superb, and against white paint it reads almost as a silhouette.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt is at its best empty and lit.\u003c\/strong\u003e Put it where light crosses it — a window sill, a lamp beside it, a picture light above — and the lobes do their work: black in the folds, glowing plum in the faces, the whole thing changing as you walk past. A vase full of flowers hides all of that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eWhen you do want it working, the narrow neck is a genuine advantage. It holds a small number of stems upright without a frog or tape, which is the hard part of arranging flowers at home. Three or five stems of something tall, and nothing else required.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe weight matters more than it sounds. A heavy vase does not tip when a cat walks past, does not skate across a polished surface, and does not need to be babied on an open shelf. This is thick glass and it behaves like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAnd it carries a maker’s name that a buyer will recognise without being told. Villeroy \u0026amp; Boch has been in continuous manufacture since 1748; signed glass by a house that old is an easy thing to own and an easy thing to explain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA note on care. \u003cstrong\u003eHand wash only, in warm water with a little dish soap, and dry it straight away with a soft cloth.\u003c\/strong\u003e Never put cased glass in a dishwasher: the heat cycle and the detergent together will etch the surface permanently, and a thick vessel with two glass layers is exactly the shape that resents sudden temperature change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNever pour hot water into it\u003c\/strong\u003e, and do not fill it from a tap running hot. Thick cased glass has more thermal mass than it looks and cracks from the inside out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eIf mineral film builds up inside from standing water, fill it with warm water and white vinegar and leave it overnight rather than reaching for anything abrasive. A bottle brush with a wire stem will score the interior and the scratches never come out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDry it thoroughly before it goes away. Water left in the bottom of a narrow-necked vase is what causes the permanent white bloom you see in old glass, and once the surface is etched there is no reversing it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047207317609,"sku":"VE-0744","price":195.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/E9CABE2D-1FE3-49DD-87E1-535E6383210A.jpg?v=1789289312","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/villeroy-boch-amethyst-cased-glass-vase-optic-moulded-lobes-with-a-scalloped-rim-heavy-clear-casing-over-a-deep-amethyst-core-acid-etched-signature-to-the-base-germany-c-1970-1995","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}