French Cameo Glass Vase. Warm yellow glass vase with red-brown overlay of  flowers and leaves. Artist's signature 'PC' on lower body. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 3 x 3 x 6 in. 

#10 #3414 . 

Cameo glass is a luxury form of glass art produced by engraving or etching and carving through fused layers of differently colored glass to produce designs, usually with white opaque glass figures and motifs on a dark-colored background. The technique first appeared in ancient Roman art around 30 BC, where it was an alternative to the more luxurious engraved gem vessels in cameo style that used naturally layered semi-precious gemstones such as onyx and agate. Glass allowed consistent and predictable colored layers, even for round objects, although the style fell dormant with the collapse of the Roman Empire, as so many arts, crafts, and ideas did. In the mid-19th Century there was a big revival of cameo glass, and it is still produced today. Most cameo glass produced in the early 1990s was made by sandblasting. The vast majority of vintage cameo glass made during the late 19th Century through the early 1930s was made by acid etching. In acid etching, the desired design is protected by a painted on resist, usually a thinned down tar. With sandblasting, the design is protected by a mask or stencil, usually made of metal or rubber. Glass in the unprotected openings are thus removed by the acid or sandblasting. Areas protected by the resist or stencil form the resulting raised design. The edges of acid etched designs are generally softer and more rounded than lines on sandblasted pieces. Acid, because it is a flowing liquid, can be guided but not precisely controlled. These soft lines are caused by the liquid acid flowing around and sometimes slightly under the resist. Different strengths of acid could also be used to achieve different surface textures. Edges produced by sandblasting are crisp and hard due to the sand striking the glass at a right angle through the mask or stencil, which are much heavier than the painted acid resists and protect the glass better.

Commensurate with age.