Monumental cut blown crystal vase — Kosta Boda — Sweden, 1947

Large blown and cut crystal vase, signed and dated beneath the base Boda 1947. A piece from the Boda Glasbruk manufactory (Sweden), predating the Erik Höglund period and the merger of the manufactories that would give rise to Kosta Boda AB in 1976.

The vase displays a slender form with thick walls, structured by six vertical ribs cut into the mass of the crystal, creating a remarkable optical effect of an inner cylinder suspended within the material.

Colourless crystal of exceptional purity and clarity, of significant weight bearing witness to the high lead content characteristic of the quality productions of this period. In 1947, Boda Glasbruk was still an independent manufactory, producing pieces in the great glassmaking tradition of Småland.

This pre-Höglund period is little documented and signed and dated pieces from it are rare. The formal vocabulary of this vase — architectural rigour, the interplay of mass and transparency, the geometric treatment of surfaces — fits squarely within the nascent Nordic modernism of the post-Second World War years.

Good overall condition for a piece of this age. One will note a small chip on the base as well as two minuscule nibbles on one of the edges, without affecting the aesthetic legibility of the whole.

Engraved with a point beneath the base: Boda 1947