Lace Cage Bowl

Artist Etsuko Nishi (Japanese, b. 1955)

Date1988

Dimensions6 x 10 3/8 x 10 1/4 in. (15.2 x 26.35 x 26 cm)

MediumPâte-de-verre, sandblasted and fused in an open mold

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineGift of Dorothy and George Saxe

Object number

1996.47

Not on View

Label TextIn her work, Japanese artist Etsuko Nishi has consistently tried to express in glass the warmth and delicacy of fiber. In the 1980s she began to use pâte-de-verre (fused crushed glass) to produce lace-like patterns in glass that refer both to Eastern textiles and double-structured glass “cage” cups produced in Rome during the 3rd and 4th centuries (see Gallery 5). Responding to the different colors that she feels differentiates Western cultures from Eastern cultures, Nishi usually uses an intense or deep palette for the outer bowl; the colors of the inner bowls frequently are soft and feathered, emphasizing the relationship between outside and inside, dark and light, weight and weightlessness.Published References"Recent Important Acquisitions," Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 40, 1998, repr. p. 167.Comparative ReferencesSee also Sapporo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Shimonoseki City Art Museum; Tokyo, Daimaru Museum; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art; Gifu, the Museum of Fine Arts; Umeda, Osaka, Daimaru Museum, World Glass Now '91, pp. 106-107. Cf. Brunsman, Laura A., "Etsuko Nishi," Glass, no. 48, 1992, p. 53. Cf. Dusseldorf, Kunstmuseum im Ehrenhof Glasmuseum Hentrich, Neues Glas in Japan/New Glass in Japan, 1993, pp. 38, 94-95.