Bowl with an Eel

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Bowl with an Eel

Designer Anna Katarina Boberg Swedish, 1864-1935

Artist(Glassblower) Fredric Kessmeier Swedish, 1859-1946

Manufacturer Reijmyre Glassworks

Date1903

DimensionsH: 10.5 cm (4 1/8 in.); Diam: 22 cm (8 5/8 in.)

MediumGlass; mold-blown, applied ("Marqueterie de Verre"), and engraved.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2004.16

Not on View

Collections

Glass

Published ReferencesRosen, Ingrid, Fem tidiga glaskonstnarrinnor, Carlssons Publishers, 1993, p. 34 (ill.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 172, repr. (col.) p. 173.

Exhibition HistorySvensk Jugend, Nordiska Museet, Stockholm, 1964, cat. no. 101.

Modern Art Sale, Bukowskis Auktioner, Stockholm, Sweden, April 29, 2004, lot 1125.

Toledo Museum of Art, New Acquisitions in Glass, Oct. 8 - Dec. 26, 2004.

Label TextThe Swedish glass industry prospered in the early 20th century because it enlisted independent artists to work with the factories. The Swedish painter Anna Boberg worked as a designer for the Reijmyre Glassworks in Kolmården near Stockholm, one of the oldest glass factories in Sweden, from 1901 to1902. The Eel Bowl was inspired by the work of French Art Nouveau artist Emile Gallé (see his Vase with Irises in this gallery), whose vessels in marqueterie sur verre (inlay in glass) Boberg encountered in Paris. Her bowl was displayed at the Turin Exposition of 1902, the most ambitious display of international decorative art ever attempted. After the fair, a limited edition of the bowl was executed at Reijmyre by the German glassblower Fredric Kessmeier.