Bowl, model 149 (The Flying Carpet)

Edward Hald, Orrefors

Engraved decoration of a stylized female figure on a flying carpet. Swedish Grace style glass bowl, signed and likely dated 1930. Edward Hald (1883-1980) came to Orrefors in 1916, the year after Simon Gate, and became at least as important a factor in the glassworks' success as Gate. They were like a Janus face for Orrefors, always mentioned in the same breath, but were completely opposite natures. Hald once wrote in his diary: "We had the same tasks and goals, but with different temperaments and means of expression. Our work was a constant interplay." If Gate was classically oriented and liked to be inspired by the lushness of the Baroque, Hald was the modernist, who had exhibited with artists such as Grünewald, Sigrid Hjertén, and GAN. Edward Hald's engraved glass was decidedly more modern compared to Gate's, and in one of his most famous works, "Ball-playing girls", the inspiration from Matisse was clear. Hald was also interested in Graal glass, and during the 1930s he developed the so-called fish Graals and aqua Graals, where fish and seaweed float around, enclosed in a green-toned glass.