Naturalism reigns in Moser art glass. This amberina glass jug with thick, lava-like applications around the rim was a canvas for fanciful flying insects painted in raised enamels, a mythical dragon-like beast and a handle formed as an encircling lizard. It rose from a $2/3,000 estimate to finish at $6,150 and was the top lot in the 193-lot sale.
Review by W.A. Demers
LONE JACK, MO. — A fantastic Moser jug with a Kakaimon dragon and lizard wended its way to become the pinnacle lot of Soulis Auction’s July 13 sale of a private 40-year collection from Denver, Colo., one of the largest and most significant collections of Ludwig Moser art glass ever offered at auction. “The Mile High Collection,” dubbed for its quality as well as locale, offered 193 lots.
The exceptionally elaborate amberina glass jug with thick, lava-like applications around the rim and exhibiting fine bright gilding on its body, which served as a canvas for fanciful flying insects painted in raised enamels, rose from a $2/3,000 estimate to finish at $6,150.
Its body was profusely decorated in an all-over enamel relief pattern of winged insects and Moser’s stylized Japanese Kakaimon rose blossom motif among swirling leafy stems and at the center was a mythical dragon-like beast in colorful enamels. The most striking feature of the 9¾-by-8-inch jug, however, was its hefty handle formed as an encircling lizard embellished with rich gilding and accented by red and gold enamels teeming with tiny white enamel beads.
Comprising 125 pieces, this Moser Splendid crystal service made $4,320. The pattern debuted in 1911 and became one of the most popular state service patterns in the Moser collection.
An impressive 125-piece Moser Splendid crystal service made $4,320. First produced in 1911, the Splendid pattern became one of the most popular state service patterns in the Moser collection. Kings of Spain and Norway commissioned state services, as did presidents and maharajas, as well as Queen Elizabeth II of England. Each piece was mouth-blown and decorated with hand-cut diamond crosshatch cuttings below the etched rim burnished in 24K gold.
This particular set was largely marked with the Moser Czechoslovakia-era oval acid mark, and/or original paper labels. The oval bowl and one carafe were signed “Moser Karlsbad” on the polished pontil.
Fetching the same price was a single rare Moser art glass cup with three-dimensional insects seemingly acrawl on its trunk-like body. It employed a crackle glass technique that was employed to render a rustic, bark-like texture to the cup’s body. The artist went further, and with enamel, created fully dimensional insects in colorful detail along with thick aquamarine applications of detailed leaves, and totally gilded upward lava flows. Finished with a rustic applied handle, the cup measured 4¼ by 4 inches.
Leading lighting examples was this rare Moser Karlsbader Secession fluid lamp, which sold for $3,600 and featured an internal decoration of red and purple flower heads on green tendrils, surrounded by intaglio engraved insects and a swallow in flight. The lamp’s original unpolished brass fittings and burner bore the maker’s mark of R. Ditmar Wein for the Austrian maker Robert Ditmar.
Lighting examples were led by a rare Moser Karlsbader Secession fluid lamp, which sold for $3,600. An internal decoration of red and purple flower heads on green tendrils were blown into the lamp’s bell-shape shade, font and stem. These were surrounded by intaglio engraved insects and a swallow in flight. Outside, the surface over each internal flower head was embellished with engraved blossom details. The surface was further embellished with flowing green enamels in high relief.
The lamp’s working innards were mounted with the original unpolished brass fittings and a burner that bore the maker’s mark of R. Ditmar Wein for the Austrian maker Robert Ditmar, a well-regarded manufacturer of high-end oil lamps and metal wares beginning in 1841.
Leading the many larger vessels in the sale was a large blue Moser art glass urn with enameled lizards, which made $3,120. The late Nineteenth Century urn was blown in an attractive shade of blue crystal and embellished with a thick, lava-like application of amber glass at the rim. A waisted neck led to the bulbous lower portion, which was lavishly decorated in exotic foliage. Adding drama to the piece, however, were two large, applied glass lizards. The enameling used to depict individual scales in three colors, divided by gold outlines, created an effect reminiscent of Chinese champlevé metalwork, according to catalog notes. The urn measured 10 by 7½ inches.
This Moser deep ruby box with gilt and unusual enamel decoration with gold, platinum and polychrome enamels went out at $3,120.
Other notable lots in the sale included a Moser deep ruby box with gilt and enamel decoration, the deep ruby glass decorated in an unusual manner with gold, platinum and polychrome enamels, which also took $3,120; 12 gilded and enameled Moser wine goblets, each cranberry glass goblet lavishly decorated in Persianate enamels and rich gilding at the rim, selling for $2,880; and a large baluster-form Nineteenth Century art glass vase blown and internally decorated in numerous pulled colors, shades and types of glass, and enameled in Islamic-influenced decoration on the exterior. It drew a $2,400 bid.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. For information, 816-697-3830 or www.soulisauctions.com.
