Fine design finds: this rare vase is for the birds

Monumental French Glass vase by D’Avesn with birds

If art works in glass is your thing, then you’ll love this vase. Each week, antique and fine art industry spokesman George Evans showcases something new and different that would be a great addition to anyone’s home design scheme. George spent the last 20 years importing and exporting antiques and fine design pieces from Europe. He’s a New York City dealer and also has two showrooms in Lambertville, New Jersey. His most exciting enterprise, however, is Bond & Bowery, a great online resource for antiques and fine art. This week George is highlighting a lovely Monumental French Glass Vase D’Avsen with Birds. Here’s our interview with George on this art glass find. Examiner: What are the unique features of this vase, George? George: It’s a large, impressive, and complicated design executed of molded and acid-etched black/red glass. The workmanship is stunning, with frolicking birds in foliage. It also helps that this vase is in MINT condition. And the scale? Superb. The vase is 30” in diameter! Examiner: In your opinion, what makes this piece collectible or desirable? George:It’s by a much rarer manufactor than Lalique. Pierre D’Avsen was a designer at Lalique and other rival companies such as Daum and Sevres.  D’Avesn designed some of Lalique’s most well-known pieces including the “Serpent” and “Tourbillon” lines. He then outgrew working for others and opened his own studio  and designed and manufactured exquisite glass pieces. Examiner:  What do you know of the vase’s provenance or how it was made? George: This piece comes from Bond and Bowery dealer Art Deco Collection.com from San Francisco. It has a solid provenance from Sotheby’s Auction of Applied Arts in 1991. It was made by the similar techniques of Lalique and the other glass masters of the period, but by a more rarified and prized craftsman working in the 1930s.  Examiner: Where would you decorate with this piece? George: This vase would be best on a table, filled with flowers or just sitting in a well-lit cabinet with other deco glass collections. It’s fragile and should be handled with care, yet one shouldn’t be afraid to actually use such a beautiful piece as long as it’s not in harm’s way.Here is an opportunity to own an uncommon and undervalued piece of quintessential French Art Deco glass.