Pair of Maltese Mtarfa Vases, one signed, late C20th

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Auction Start: 09/03/26 20:15:00 UTC
Auction Ending: 24/03/26 20:42:00 UTC
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LOT NUMBER 22
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LOT NUMBER 22

Pair of Maltese Mtarfa Vases, one signed, late C20th

Closely resembling the work of the Mdina studio, this pair of vases derive from another of Malta’s glassworks, Mtarfa. Founded in 1979 by Paul Said, the brother of Joseph Said who was at the time the owner of Mdina Glass, the studio produced pieces which were similar in both form and decoration to those made by its more famous rival. Indeed, both brothers were originally trained by Michael Harris, the founder of Mdina Glass, where they both worked. As with the Mdina pieces the glassmakers at Mtarfa took their inspiration from the colourings of the sea and landscape of the Mediterranean which surrounded them. The form here was distinctive to them though, a bottle shape with a squat globular body below a narrow cylindrical neck with a broad flat top rim. The purple and white glass is in a distinctive ‘pulled feather’ design with broad swirling bands to the body and narrow ones to the neck. The signature on one can be made out (with a little imagination) as reading ‘Mtarfa’ and is very similar to other signatures, equally slightly indistinct, found on other pieces which also bear the Mtarfa paper label confirming the identification. This pair of vases was almost certainly made in the 1980s or early 1990s before the rebranding of the firm as ‘Valletta Glass’ which still produces pieces today.
Size: Left : Ht 13.8cm, Top diam 6.1cm, Width (max) 8.5cm, Base 6cm Right : Ht 13cm, Top diam 6.7cm, Width (max) 8.5cm, Base 6.5cm
Weight: 1.060kg (pair)
Date: Late C20th
Condition: Good condition, no issues
Estimate: £30 – 40

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