Caithness Glass - A Limited History of Limited Editions
The great triumph of industrialisation is the ability to endlessly reproduce the same thing from a packet of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Coca Cola Bottles or even an Apple Ipad. South Sea islanders shown packets of sweets in the 1960s weren’t amazed by the sweets they were amazed that every packet was identical. We have lost the wonder of sameness and we now look for exclusivity in the things we want to love and cherish. And this explains the development and success of the Limited Edition in collectibles and art and decoration.
Edouard Degas
When the artist Edouard Degas died in 1917 they discovered that the famous impressionist painter of horses and ballerinas had left more than a hundred and fifty sculptures of these subjects that nobody had ever seen. They were still at the clay stage of creation and had not been cast in bronze. The artist had lost his sight late in life and unable to work in his favourite medium, light and colour he had taken to sculpting. Most were of wax, clay, and plasticine.
Limited Editions
Degas' heirs were in disagreement about a great many things, but by 1918 they had decided to authorise a series of casts, or limited editions, of bronzes to be made from seventy-two of the small figures. Albert Bartholomé , a sculptor and Degas' was to prepare the figures for casting, to be executed by the Paris foundry of A.-A. Hébrard et Cie. This marks the beginning of art limited editions.
Caithness Limited Edition
Now, new from Caithness Glass - The Lone Piper come a series of very limited editions with tiny runs of a hundred or one hundred and fifty paperweight that will delight collectors eye’s and add value to their collection. Among them is the The Lone Piper designed by master maker Designer Martin Murray.
Rhapsody Blue is artful simplicity the humble cornflower, encased in a crystal terrarium. This deceptive simplicity masks a triumph of the glass maker’s art. It again is a very limited edition, but this time only of one hundred.
