Featured Use of and possibly maker/country of origin of ice block glass art

Hi all.

I recently found this glass item and found it too interesting to pass by.

Doing some basic researching I found similar examples online that were either ashtrays or paperweights. Most were called ice block art glass.

This one is definitely not an ashtray and seems too large to be a paperweight. It is approximately 12x18x3.5cm in size.

Very heavy. Was it just an ornament or meant as decoration, or did it have a use?

Most examples I found was said to be mid 50s and from Germany. Does that seem fair? Lastly, where could I look for a signature on this? I have found some signed ones mentioned online but no photos of the signatures or mention of where they were signed.

Many thanks in advance as always.

Ps. It is so difficult to photograph clear glass. What method do you use to better show the intricate patterns? I tried dark background, tried with flash, nothing really makes it pop or looks nearly as good as the item in hand does.

 

Nice chunk of glass Snipsa. As for glass photography it usually comes down to lighting, light positioning and background. If you google "photographing glass" you will find heaps of ideas. Here's some...
http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/3427/a-primer-for-photographing-glass-objects/
https://petapixel.com/2017/07/01/photograph-glassware-pure-white-background/
http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents/glass_photography.htm
Cheers
Stephen

 

I don't know your glass piece however I did want to mention a little something. My sister is a glass artist. One day she took one of my daughters under her wing for a project.

I don't remember the exact process they used as I wasn't there but my daughter carved a design into something (I think it could have been styrofoam) that they created a mold from (don't know how exactly). Anyway at the end of the process they ended up with this type of art. A block of glass with the relief mold of her design. My daughter had signed it in the mold but it came out backward. So yours could be signed as part of the design or could have been signed later anywhere and not necessarily by anyone known.

 

If signed in mold, usually in one of the lower corners.
If hand signed, on the bottom.

Second to last picture is this a possible signature?

 

Id guess Swedish or maybe Finnish,but thats just a guess. I looked at one almost identical to this at a thrift,but it had a big chip or Id have bought it.

 

Could also be Eastern European.

 

I think it's a modernist portrait of the Virgin Mary. It's meant to hang around and look nice.

 

My first thought was Don Shepard, but not for Blenko, but rather while he was designing for other companies. I googled images for Don Shepherd Madonna, and while he made a piece similar to this, it is different. I also tried a reverse image search and didn't find anything

Scandinavian is a good place to try.

 

I agree that it is a purely decorative item depicting the Madonna. It looks Scandinavian art glass of the 1950s or 1960s to me. Orrefors, Iittala, Kosta Boda, and Rosental all produced glass madonnas, but I can't find any like that on the internet, although I'm pretty sure I've encountered something else in that "brick" style - for want of a better description - in an antique shop in the past.