Scandinavian Ceramics and Glass: 1940s to 1980s (Schiffer Book for Collectors) [Hardcover]

George Fischler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Schiffer Book for Collectors | Publication Date: January 2000

During the second half of the twentieth century, Scandinavian potters and glassmakers drew on elements present in China and Japan during the period of the Sung Dynasty to produce pieces of beauty and elegance that combined subtle glazes and classical shapes. The qualities came to characterize Scandinavian design in combining the fundamentals of craftsmanship, quality, subtlety, and a relationship to the natural surroundings. With 380 color photographs to illustrate the work, this book is a must for the ceramics and glass collector as well as those who appreciate the results of a collaboration between artist and nature. Concentrating on designs produced in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland following World War II, the book presents the works of ceramics companies such as R**rstrand, Gustavsberg, Arabia, Saxbo, and Palshus, as well as the glass of Orrefors, Kosta, and Iittala. Designs by some of the greatest names in contemporary Scandinavian ceramic and glass design, including Berndt Friberg, Stig Lindberg, Gunnar Nylund, Wilhelm K **ge, Edward Hald, Sven Palmqvist, Tapio Wirkkala, Timo Sarpaneva, and Vicke Lindstrand, will be appreciated by all students of twentieth century design. The guide to current prices will please the collector.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Fischler lives in Arizona, and has written extensively about antiques. Barrett Gould is an antiques dealer specializing in modern design. He lives in northern New Jersey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764311638
• ISBN-13: 978-0764311635
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,269,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK but could be much better, May 8, 2009

By 

Desi (SF Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scandinavian Ceramics and Glass: 1940s to 1980s (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (Hardcover)

I bought this book to try and identify some of my family's Scandinavian ceramics. Unfortunately, I was only able to find information on the ones I already knew. An especially helpful section would be to show more maker's marks. In many cases, I suspected an item was made for a particular factory but had to go online to identify it for sure.

This book was last published in 2000 which makes the prices completely outdated. If you are looking at this for the art glass, there are other resources out there to identify Scandinavian glass (see Schiffer guides 'Smoke and Ice' and 'Fire and Sea'). This book really should have been about the pottery/ceramics/stoneware and unfortunately on that front they fell short. They only included a very small fraction of the enormous number of really beautiful Scandinavian ceramics pieces out there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all Scandinavian countries represented, May 22, 2011

By 

CoffeeLady (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scandinavian Ceramics and Glass: 1940s to 1980s (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (Hardcover)

I was disappointed that of the three Scandinavian countries, this book only covers Sweden and Denmark. In addition it also lists one of the Nordic countries, Finland. As I recently started collecting Scandinavian pottery from Norway, this book was of no use for me personally. However, the coverage of items from Sweden, Denmark and Finland is quite comprehensive and interesting. This book would be of value to collectors of glass/pottery from these countries.