A rare engraved "Finestra" glass vase, Iittala, Finland, 1947, model 3220, engraved by Theodor Käppi.
Three different deep-cut windows with engraved decoration of a girl with a bird, a lady with a cat, as well as flowers and a fluttering curtain, signed and dated T. WIRKKALA - TH. KÄPPI IITTALA -47. Height 34 cm, diameter 11.5 cm.
Chips and small damages on the foot rim and around the window, wear underneath.
Provenance
Acquired at auction from the estate of Carolyn Price (1927-2018), Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA.
In 1954 Carolyn and her husband Harold Price Jr. commissioned the architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a house for their family. Wright placed the home as if it was emerging from one of the land’s rolling hills, thus earning the home its nickname Hillside. The Price family surrounded themselves with iconic designs of many modernist architects and designers.
Literature
Marianne Aav (ed.), "Tapio Wirkkala Eye Hand and Thought", WS Bookwell OY, 2000, model illustrated p. 56.
Marianne Aav (ed.), "Iittala, 125 years of Finnish glass, Complete History with all Designers", Designmuseo, Arnoldsche 2006, see pp. 32, 342-343.
"Tapio Wirkkala - A Poet in Glass and Silver", Collection Kakkonen, The Finnish Glass Museum, Saarijärvi 2013, see pp. 28-39. Compare both versions illustrated: "Tapio Wirkkala engraved Finestra in 1946", p. 28 and the auction's version: "better known for it's crystal version that has been engraved by Theodor Käppi", p. 33.
More information
After the end of the Second World War in 1946, a design competition was held at the Iittala glassworks, marking the beginning of a new era of collaborations with designers. Tapio Wirkkala won first prize with the engraved vase "Finestra". The model became the starting point for Wirkkala's career as a glass designer, and he subsequently took a position at Iittala.
"Finestra" was in production for a short period from 1947 to 1948. An example is held in the Design museum collection in Helsinki.
More about Tapio Wirkkala
Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985) rose to world fame in the early 1950s following the breakthrough of Finnish industrial design. He was an exceptionally prolific artist who mastered almost any material and designed both everyday objects and unique works of art.
Wirkkala graduated as a decorative carver from Taideteollisuuskeskuskoulu (the School of Art and Design) in 1936, after succeeding in various design competitions, he began to gain a reputation as a pioneer of glass and silver. One of Wirkkala's most important partners in the silver industry was Kultakeskus, whose production he renewed in the 1950s. During the three decades of cooperation, Wirkkala designed a large number of products for Kultakeskus, many of which were forged by hand.
Tapio Wirkkala worked for several companies simultaneously on both serial production and more individual design work. Despite the variety of design tasks, certain themes can be seen repeated in his production. Wirkkala drew inspiration from the landscapes of Lapland, where he lived with his family for part of the year. The busy artist did not compromise on his travels to Lapland under any circumstances, and he travelled to the north regularly to explore nature and seek inspiration. The forms of snow and the melting ice was the inspiration behind many of his glass objects, and the shapes of boats and leaves came to serve as an inspiration for several silver objects, such as the TW9 silver bowl, which was commissioned and handcrafted for Kultakeskus.
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