1920s Bohemian Blue Flashed Glass Vase with Etched Egyptian Pyramid Scenes

This is a charming and unusual glass vase, probably Bohemian in origin and dating to the 1920s.

The vase has an elongated trumpet-shaped body and merges with a thick, solid discoid foot.

It is made from thick lead crystal over which has been applied a dark blue glass layer. This has been cut around the rim with a series of notches, and below this a band of horizontal leaf-shaped wedge cuts. There is a deep circumferential mitre cut above and below the central panel, which has been carefully etched to depict a scene of date palm trees, a camel and rider, and some pyramids in the background. The foot of the vase is mostly blue, with six cut facets that extend from the stem onto the top of the foot.

The underside of the foot is polished flat and unmarked.

Items such as this were produced from the end of the 19th century as excavations were taking place in Egypt. Popularity was resurgent after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 so souvenir and commemorative items would have been made to exploit this interest. 

It has a height of approximately 20.5cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 5.6cm and across the foot of about 6.9cm.

It has an unwrapped weight of 340g.

It is in excellent condition, with no chips or cracks.