A large early 20th Century Thomas Webb & Sons cameo glass vase by Frank Wilkinson, the footed and shouldered ovoid body rising to a flared collar neck, cased in opal over deep ruby and cut with four semi clad classical maidens, one in forward facing pose with arms clasped across her chest, one looking at a bird in flight, one holding a garland of flowers and one holding a bunch of grapes, all between repeat scalloped borders, unmarked, height 34.5cm. This vase is featured on the frontispiece of 'The Hallmarks of Antique Glass' by R. Wilkinson and referenced on page 121 of the same reference book. R. Wilkinson comments - The vase illustrated on the frontispiece is one that my brother worked on for over 12 months at odd periods. After his death a friend of his, an engraver in Wordsley, completed the work of carving by hand tools and on the engravers lathe; this took ten solid months to complete entailing twelve, fourteen and even sixteen hours work a day for six days a week. This is a Thos. Webb recorded vase, but when a blister was found beneath the outer layer of opal, the work was not proceeded with, but the blister was later removed from the inner layer of copper ruby as the work was completed. Provenance - F. Wilkinson and thence by family descent to the current owner.

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