Message #50165

[forestman]

Dear Giovanni,

I can't see with certainty that the areas you have arrowed show a cutting back into the base colour, mainly because they are on the very periphery of the bottle where light can play tricks on you. However if you look at the end of the right hand fin of the fish in your first arrowed picture it may be the best example of why it may be a proper overlay. The tapering down of the thickness of the glass here couldn't be achieved on appliqued glass so it has to be carved back overlay unless it has happened through damage and there is an obvious chip off one of the wave crests.

The question of why they would go to the trouble of making an applique piece to fit around the base was the aspect of my saying it could be appliqued glass that made the least sense to me as well although it wouldn't need to be that complicated.

The crispness of the carving between the base colour and overlay would be far easier on Rube's bottle because there is such a contrast between the two colours. There is the contradiction of how it is so cleanly finished in respect of the base to overlay transition and yet there are aspects of the design and carving of the overlay that show a lesser skill.

I have to admit that the nice spoon was missed by me as I was concentrating on how crisp some aspects were which looked wrong to me on first sight.

I will await better pictures if Rube can get hold of them.

Regards, Adrian.