Malagasy Decorative Bowls

19th century yellow ware mixing bowls. Wonderful color with a white stripe going across the top and each has a beautiful blue design within th...

White Roman travertine bowl designed by Le Lampade and made in Italy. 10 available.   

Kastle large bowl, Murano glass, by Karim Rashid, 21st century. Karim Rashid has conceived for Purho a mini collection of bowls and vases characte...

Unique Swedish folk-art bowl in a very unusual boat like shape. This wooden bowl is large and wide with date “1782” underneath along with a set of initials. An unusual detail is the ...

A fine carved rock crystal square bowl, created by Phoenix Gallery.

Contemporary artisan oolitic limestone bowl or basin from England.

Large asymmetrically shaped aluminum bowl. Makers mark on underside .

Large yellow hand painted porcelain jardinière bowl on a wooden stand.

Pair of semi precious Agathe bowl , warm brown, white and black tones. Hand carved oval shape in Brazil circa 1990. Good condition Set if 2 price for one Long 13,5 cm width 8cm h...

Set of three sculptural Mid-Century Modern bronze cast bowl with decorative open pattern. Great center pieces and functional bowls. High quality hand crafted items each have real character in texture and shape with their original patina. Individual dimensions, Open pattern bowl; Diameter 23 cm Height 3 cm Maximum textural pattern bowl; Diameter 19 cm Height 4 cm Waved bowl...

Large Michael Lax polished aluminum bowl Some wear on the interior center area as shown. Would be a good piece to possibly have polished.

Rock crystal vessels were highly demanded and valuable in Medieval times. Inventories from European royal houses and the highest aristocratic families detail the important and sophisticated collections of ewers and bowls. Rock crystal has also been used extensively in religious art. Fine European reliquaries were also made of Rock Crystal including gems, enamel and other precious materials. The work of rock crystal is very ancient. The materials has been worked and valued for its solidity and its purity: it has been believed to be water ice permanently frozen. Our superb example is a gold-mounted rock crystal bowl with enamel. The items origin is not clear and various features and characteristics may lead us to think of different origins and periods of creation. A single piece of stone mounted with gold could be a Milanese work. Although the cut could be French as similar pieces belonged to the French royalty (especially the art lover Duc de Berry, (1340-1416)). French and Italian crystal cutters have been active at the same time and it is often difficult to differentiate their works. Islamic art also influenced European artists. The famous Fatimid treasury provided examples of their sophistication and quality. The seven ewers carved for the Fatimid Imans (known as "The Magnificent Seven") display impressive quality of both rock crystal and enamelled mounts. Even though not identical to works by French silversmith Jean-Valentin Morel who was appointed goldsmith to Queen Victoria in 1852 or Reinhold Vasters (1927-1909) another renown German goldsmith who embellished older rock crystal items, there are similarities between these works. Both reduce their use of colour to black and white on pure gold mounts. Moreover the black enamel design is quite similar. Also, no gems are included and no human figure is represented. Sotherby's described our bowl as a "German Rock crystal bowl with later gold mounts, 15th century." Other items from the period from Germany or Austria are usually silver mounted and the decorations are more colourful and include gems or human figures but they have in common enamel motifs. In our case, the gold foot, handles and rim could date from the 1900s. An expert has established the foot, handles and rim are pure gold. The goldsmith responsible for the improvement of the bowl is possibly the most famous Reinhold Vasters whose work has been displayed in the greatest museums such as the V&A in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Rock Crystal bowl we have is gold mounted. The gold shows in enamelled details that are black and white. The gold handles are also enamelled with black acanthus-like leaves. The enamelling method could be "champleve" or "painting metal". The metal that is usually preferred is copper but these techniques are also applied to gold. The bowl itself could be from the 14th century. It's cut reminds of an estimated 14th century rock crystal ball bearing the Buoncompagni family arms...