1920s Blown Needle Etch Fruit or Small Cereal Bowl w/ Sunflowers

This is a needle-etched, thin-walled, hand-blown glass 4 1/4 inch (11 cm) diameter bowls. They stand about 2 /14 inches (6 cm) tall. The pattern features abstract sunflowers and ribbons. It has a polished base where the pontil was removed. They probably date to the 1920s when the needle etch technique was most widely used. Needle etched glass was an acid etching technique applied to thin glass. In the needle etching process, a glass blank was coated with wax. A skilled setter used a complex machine to carve a repeating pattern in the glass. The glass was set in place and slowly rotated while the machines needle traced the pattern into the wax. Once the pattern was complete, a second worker repaired any spots where the wax coating had been damaged by handling. Then the piece was placed in an acid dip to create the pattern.

These pair is in good shape with no chips, cracks, or repairs. They have slight evidence of use, mostly in the form of slight wear marks on the base. Because they are handmade, there is some variation among the pieces we have. The size of the polished area varies slightly in size and they may have a few bits of debris in the glass. Overall they look nice and have good workmanship. The price shown is for a single bowl, and we have a number available while they last. As shown by one of the photos, they fit the underplate which is sold separately.