Mary Ann Toots Zynsky 1970s Hand Blown Glass Leg Goblet, Purple I $7500 Appraisal

Artist: Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky
Title: Purple Goblet I
Medium: Hand Blown Glass
Dimensions: 7 3/8" x 2 3/4" x 2 3/4"
Year: c. 1970s
Documentation: Includes gallery certificate of authenticity and certified third-party appraisal from FOSS Appraisal Service

Along with artists like Dale Chihuly and William Morris, Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky revolutionized and popularized modern glass art. Toots Zynsky is known primarily for her boundless innovation; creating pioneering new techniques of color application and composing unexpected new forms.

Toots Zynsky's whimsical set of legged goblets underscores her innovative spirit. Like most of Zynsky's body of work, "Purple Goblet I" is unusual, full of personality, and flawlessly executed. This series of legged goblets mark a significant departure in glass art from forms that are symmetrical and practical to more unusual, artistic, and exploratory compositions.

Created circa 1970s, "Purple Goblet I" is not signed by the artist, but does include a gallery certificate of authenticity as well as a certified third-party appraisal from FOSS Appraisal Service listing the replacement value for this work as $7,500.

About Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky

One of the pioneers of the modern glass art movement, Mary Ann "Toots" Zynsky is an artist best known for her vessels comprised of heat formed "filet de verre," or threads of interwoven glass. "Toots" Zynsky’s played an important role in the development of the modern glass art movement and her own pioneering technique has cemented her place in 20th century art history.

Toots Zynsky attended the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where she studied under Dale Chihuly and as a contemporary of several other glass artists, including Bruce Chao, Dan Dailey, Therman Statom, and James Carpenter. She followed Dale Chihuly back to his home state of Washington, where she became an integral part in the founding of the Pilchuk Glass school.

For many artists, mastering the emerging medium of blown glass art would be challenging and influential enough to define an entire career. For Toots Zynsky, glass was the jumping off point for a burgeoning interest in other materials. She began experimenting with unconventional materials like fabric, thread, and barbed wire. In 1980, she accepted a position as the director of the New York Experimental Glass Workshop where she began to interweave her glass background with her newfound interest in unconventional materials. She developed an innovative technique to create thin, crystalline glass structures that appeared like thread, and when woven together, appeared like fabric. These threads would go on to be called "filet de verre" and her glass vessels comprised of them would become known as "spun glass" vessels.

Today, Toots Zynsky's art is displayed in more than 70 museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Venini Museum collection on the island of Murano, Italy.