Mistletoe and art nouveau not a well-known combination in Britain but big in continental Europe. The form of the plant, the branching pattern and curves of the leaves were perfect for this type of imagery. When linked to the special place mistletoe has in continental traditions, it is easy to see how mistletoe became a popular subject. This weeks blogs will be looking at examples, and at a couple of live auctions in London (Wednesday) and New York (Friday).
There are many examples of Lalique and Daum mistletoe glassware you can see some on my mistletoe website, but Im posting more examples here, with comments on how difficult it is to buy them, unless you have lots of dosh.
Rene Laliques Gui (Mistletoe) bowls and vases are probably the best-known examples and though each comes in effectively standard patterns they do have a bewildering variety of colour forms.
More on these later in the week there are several due to be auctioned in New York on Friday.
Daum were another art glassware firm that had a regular mistletoe theme their material is more variable in shape than Lalique, but is often characterised by gold detailing on green/clear glass and the Mistletoe at New Year slogan Au Gui LAn Neuf trailing around the piece in a ribbon motif.
If you want to collect this calibre of stuff you need to have some savings the examples shown are all from recent Ebay auctions and all go for several hundred pounds some over £1000.
And also be well aware of imitations/forgeries Im not sure how you can check this online, but a lot of buyers seem to trust the system and buy regardless.
Ive never managed to acquire any of the glassware Im not wealthy enough but Ive come close a couple of times, most recently for this broken Daum mistletoe bowl which went for the bargain price of 14 Euros a couple of weeks ago.
Intact it would have been £100s…I was gutted even in 4 pieces I wouldve loved and cherished it (well, put it away in a drawer, along with other mistletoe trivia).