Unique Fishgraal

Data: Signed; Orrefors Sweden Graal nr 1500 Edward Hald. Height; 15 cm. A fishgraal that looks as if from 1937 in a possibly unique shape.

Exhibited at Orrefors Showrooms in Malmö, 1985.

Provenance; Bought at Swedish auction.

The piece, “The Paper Weight Fish Graal,” is a bit of a conundrum, and it is so for two reasons. [1] Fishgraals were typically made as spherical or drop-shaped vases, occasionally as ashtrays, and very rarely as dishes; this is a unique, or at least extremely rare, shape. [2] In 1944, when this Graal was allegedly made, 1499 other thick Graals had been produced before it, and the technique had "improved," making it relatively easy to create much clearer and sharper contours than this. This Graal appears as though it was made among the first hundred or so. Why? Consider these fish. The contour is so vague, lacking the sharpness that was now (in 1944) so easily achieved. Is it because the material was thicker than normal? Is it due to the use of an old "ämne"/"cartridge"? Or was it the result of an attempt to imitate “the technique of yesteryearʼs?"