At the Antique Fair at Nelson Mandela Square, Upper and Lower Levels,
Sunday 7th July 2019 – 9am to 4pm
As one of the oldest monthly table-top antique fairs in South Africa, the Antique Fair at Nelson Mandela Square continues to celebrate and whet your appetite for the art of collecting by focusing on different collecting disciplines every month.
The Antique Fair on Sunday 7th July celebrates some of the most delicate, most beautiful and most precious items that man has ever produced – glassware. Antique dealers specialising in glassware will be putting out their best wares whilst the general dealers will scour their sources to find those unique pieces that will catch the eye of the avid collector or simply make you fall in love with glass.
One of man’s more noble and ‘green’ inventions as it is made from naturally found materials and is fully recyclable, glass basically consists of sand with the addition of an alkaline flux to help it melt at a lower temperature and a stabiliser, usually lime, to toughen it. Various metallic oxides such as iron, lead, copper, cobalt, gold etc as well as impurities in the sand all added to creating glass’ unique decorative effect.
There is magic in the way light bounces off its translucent surface, the eye-catching colours or the fluid shapes and patterns that makes antique and decorative glassware so appealing.
Whilst Glass was produced as early as the Bronze Age, antique glass-making was thought to have appeared in Mesopotamia about 3 000 years BC. It reached Egypt by 1540 BC where glass techniques used complex moulding and shaping techniques with coloured glass, trailed decoration, even double-walled pieces containing gold leaf decoration and by the first few centuries B.C. the millefiore style had already been invented.
Although the Romans mass produced glassware for containers and glasses for their growing empire they are also credited with creating the cameo cut as seen in their Portland Vase from the end of the first century BC. Glass features strongly in religions with the Islamic Kingdom from the 7th Century producing colourful and innovative designs, engraving, gilding and using lustre decoration whilst the Christian religions used stained glass windows in their churches.
But it was the Venetians in the fifteenth century who took the art of glass blowing to another level and became the leading glass makers in the world and continue to this day to be leaders in the craft with art glass produced from the late-19th through the mid-20th Century considered the pinnacle of glassmaking and one of the most popular eras to collect in the market.
Glassware is one of the easiest collections to start as you will find something to suit every budget.
– if you just love the intensity of colour in glass or need to decorate with it, you will find a wealth of affordable vintage glassware at the antique fairs – from antique bottles to depression glass (made during the mid-1920’s to 1930’s), carnival glass with its iridescent finish made in the early 20th Century to the opaque milk glass.
– Art glass has become highly collectable and has a contemporary appeal. Designed and crafted by artists, these stunning pieces function more as art sculptures. Top of the list are creations by Lalique, the many mid-Century Murano artists as well many of the Scandinavian Art Glass makers.
– Clear and crystal glass – whether in the form of a set of exquisite crystal cut wine glasses or trendier Art Deco martini glasses to the classic decanter, investing in good quality glassware is a must.
Come in from the cold this winter…. to the warmth of the Antique Fair under the porticos of Nelson Mandela Square on Sunday 7th July from 10am to 4pm.
For further information contact Clyde Terry on 082 883 4933 or email clyde4th@mweb.co.za.
Media Liaison: Giuli Osso on 083 377 6721 or email giuli@gocomms.co.za
