FW Auction, Objets choisis, curiosités & collection, lot 46, Fernelmont (Belgium), Sunday, November 22, 2020.
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Pair of flattened gourd-shaped vases, in translucent smoked green blown glass, each resting on a circular base. Several elements are hot-worked and applied, including the base, the neck, and the "tears" of glass that seem to escape from it before extending into drips on the body.
Each vase is enhanced with a gilded bronze mount, whose feet, treated in a Japonist style, evoke cherry blossom branches. The mount is not only a functional element: it fully participates in the object's ornamentation and extends, through its vegetal vocabulary, the organic character of the glasswork.
Several vases by Auguste Jean adopt this same flattened gourd shape, but each is distinguished by the color of the glass and the composition of its decoration. This pair, however, is particularly interestingly distinguished by the absence of any enameled decoration: here, the ornamentation relies entirely on the hot-worked glass and the gilded bronze mount.
