BERTIL VALLIEN ‘NETWORK’ SERIES BOTTLE VASE FOR BODA GLASSWORKS

Bertil Vallien's 'Network' series of 1978 for Boda Glassworks is part of the company's 'Artist Collection.'  'Network' consists of eight vases and three bowls, all with a distinctive net pattern on a white surface. The glass is frosted and slightly iridescent, with an overlay textured with a crosshatched surface produced by blowing the molten glass against a metal screen. This cylindrical bottle vase with a flared lip and blue detailing is among the rarest of the forms (model 47864) and measures 9.25" tall by 2.75" in diameter.  The base has been left unsigned, but its provenance is irrefutable. BERTIL VALLIEN was born in 1938 in Sollentuna, a northern suburb of Stockholm, into a strictly devout religious family.  He felt the inclination to become an artist at a very early age.  This first manifested in his youthful talent for sketching horses.  (In his teens Vallien would join the calvary, serving in the last generation of Sweden's mounted special forces.)  He began the study of ceram