Fleur de Lys

Collectors Facts - Fleur de Lys, Inwald (originally "Sigurd"), and Millersburg

Inwald version - 12 inch chop plate

Inwald version - 10 inch cylinder vase

Shapes (Inwald):

Chop plate - 10"

Plate - 6" and 9"

Vases - 6.25", 8", 10", 13"

Bowls, various sizes

Pitcher

Jardiniere

Comport (see below)

Colours:

Marigold

Recent discovery!

Thanks to Dirk Dreps for sending us this picture (below left) of a shape that had not previously been reported in Inwald's Fleur de Lys pattern.

We found it in a 1927 Markhbeinn catalogue (showing Inwald's glass), as shown on the right: the shape was called a "Grand Compotier très profond" (a large, deep comport / bowl). It was also described as being for multi-purpose usage.

Inwald Fleur de Lys comport. Courtesy Dirk Dreps

Markhbeinn catalogue, 1927

The motif crossed the Atlantic

Here we have very different pieces, from two very different makers, that share the same pattern name, based on the same symbol, the fleur-de-lys.

The fleur-de-lys is a stylised lily flower and its use as an emblem is said to be traceable back to as early as 493AD. One historical interpretation is that its three leaves represented the three main social classes of that time – those who worked, those who fought, and those who prayed.

By the 12th Century it was being used as an heraldic emblem by the Kings of France, and over the centuries, it appeared on many European coats of arms and flags. The fleur-de-lys also crossed the Atlantic to America with European settlers (especially from France) who were bound for the New World, and it can be found on coats of arms and flags in both the USA and Canada (Source: Wikipedia).

How fitting then that the emblem which spans Europe and the USA was also used as a Carnival Glass design by glass makers on both sides of the Atlantic – by Inwald in Czechoslovakia and by Millersburg in the USA – and used to stunning effect as these pictures show.

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Millersburg version - 10 inch bowl