Graal thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Graal

Vase
1918 (made)
Artist/Maker
Orrefors Glasbruk (manufacturer)
Gate, Simon (designer)
Bergkvist, Knut (glassmaker)
Wollman, Heinrich (engraver (inciser))
Place of origin
Småland (made)

Vase decorated using the "Graal" technique. Dished bowl with stem of three knops which lead to a slightly flaired flat foot. It is hand blown and engraved. It is designed with blue vertical bands of calligraphic patterning.

Object details

Categories
Glass
Vases
Object type
Vase
TitleGraal (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Graal (Grail) technique glass, hand blown, engraved
Glass
Hand-Blown
Engraved
Brief description
Vase from the "Graal" range, designed by Simon Gate, made by Knut Bergkvist and engraved by Heinrich Wollman at Orrefors glassworks, Sweden, Småland, 1916-18
Physical description
Vase decorated using the "Graal" technique. Dished bowl with stem of three knops which lead to a slightly flaired flat foot. It is hand blown and engraved. It is designed with blue vertical bands of calligraphic patterning.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26.4cm
  • Maximum width: 26.2cm
Style
20TH CONT
Marks and inscriptions
'SGraal Orrefors 1918 HW KB' incised (Makers's marks)
Gallery label
The 'Graal' technque was developed by Knut Bergvist, with the designers Simon Gate and Edward Hald and first launched in 1916. The first gather of glass is engraved or acid-etched with a pattern and then covered with further layers of glass, some of them coloured. Re-heated, the glass is then blown to the required shape and this process accounts for the 'stretched' appearance of the pattern. This early example is recorded in the photographic archive at Orrefors. It cost Kr.200 when new. The numbers made and the dates are unknown but no other examples have come to light.
Bibliographic references
  • Orrefors archive, no/684. Burlington Magazine, April, 1994, Opie,J:...
  • Ann-Marie Herlitz-Gezelius. Orrefors: A Swedish Glassplant. Stockholm: Atlantis Publishers, 1984. See pp. 30-31 for the archive photo of c. 1918 showing the Orrefors display including this glass on the left.
Other number
7569 - Glass gallery number
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
C.363-1993

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Record createdDecember 13, 1997
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O4488/graal-vase-gate-simon/
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