The bust of The Madonna has a beautiful serene expression and is made of a very, very pale blue pressed glass. The bust is at the very least Art Deco in style with her angular lines and the halo that frames her head.
She is heavy for her size (15.5 x 10.5 x 6.5cm) weighing nearly 1.5kg. There are no chips, cracks or restoration and she has an acid etched signature to the base. I have tried my best to capture this.There is some debate about the dating of this maker, which was based in Southwark, South London. All understanding is based on Cyril Manley, who suggests a date of 1900 however it is not known what this assumption is based upon. Stylistically the known pieces show attributes that suggest a later date more likely some time between the World Wars.
Production included both moulded/caste and blown wares and it is probable that Guy Underwood was the designer since at least one example is marked as by him (three versions of this piece are known). There are only ten recorded examples of Bermondsey Glass, which can only be identified if it bears an acid trade mark. Broadfield House Glass Museum now owns three pieces and this writer four. Several of the known examples bear similarity to the work of Nazeing Glass and, to date, the palette used has been limited to cold tones; also the use of mica inclusions for decoration. There is an erroneous claim that if a piece includes mica then it identifies it as being Bermondsey Glass.
It is believed that this stems from an exhibition Blown in London held by Circa Glass at Grays Antique Centre which included a fully marked item loaned by Nigel Benson, 20th Century Glass. The item "RARE Art Deco Glass Madonna By Guy Underwood For Bermonsey Glass Signed" is in sale since Monday, November 4, 2019.
This item is in the category "Pottery, Porcelain & Glass\Glass\Art Glass\British\Other British Art Glass". The seller is "elsiej03" and is located in Bristol. This item can be shipped to United Kingdom, Antigua and barbuda, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, United States, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, China, Israel, Hong Kong, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Barbados, Brunei darussalam, Cayman islands, Dominica, Egypt, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Grenada, French guiana, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Macao, Monaco, Maldives, Montserrat, Martinique, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Turks and caicos islands, Aruba, Saudi arabia, South africa, United arab emirates, Ukraine, Chile, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kuwait, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Trinidad and tobago, Uruguay.