This is an exceptional, extra-tall, Mid-Century translucent blown glass pitcher or decanter from the Verrerie de Bendor, located on the Island of Bendor, French Riviera. The piece was meticulously crafted in France circa 1960. The fine bubbles decor is the glassworks' signature. The light gray-green color darkens towards the base with a deep ombre. A polished pontil mark is visible on the bottom. The pitcher still has its original designer's sticker on the side.
Measurements:
Note: The island of Bendor lies in the south of France, opposite the city of Marseille.
In 1950, Paul Ricard was at a party in Bandol, in the south of France, in a house overlooking a barren island, a treeless rock, on which stood an ancient wall built to repel Saracen invaders in the 8th century. Contemplating the sea from the terrace, he decided to acquire the island and reconnect with his first love by establishing an artists' colony there. He began with a monolithic tribute to Puget, inscribed with his motto "No Good Without Pain," which now stands at the entrance to the Hôtel Delos. The island had its first hotel, restaurant, bar, artist studio, and gallery two years later. During the 1950s and 1960s, Bendor Island's highly developed infrastructure welcomed artists, offering a foundry for creating ornamental iron objects and glassworks with an imposing furnace near the beach. The production was technically similar to that of Biot glassworks, with its bubble decor. All pieces were mouth-blown.
Elegant pieces were created here for collectors worldwide, including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The glassworks continued to operate on Bendor Island until the late 1970s.