Orrefors Simon Gate Vase Engraved Woman Reaching Upward in Prayer or Salutation

This distinctive Swedish hand blown, wheel engraved glass vase was designed by Simon Gate at Orrefors Glassworks in 1937. This copy was made in 1939. It is a lovely size for an accent piece, measuring 4 inches x 4 inches x 7 inches and weighing 2.5 pounds. The pleasing square form is decorated with a woman kneeling, turned away, with her arms reaching to the heavens.

Simon Gate (Swedish, 1883–1945) was a glass maker and designer for Orrefors Glass Factory. He studied painting at the College of Technology in Stockholm and the Academy of Art. In 1916, when he was working as a graphic designer, he was recruited by the Orrefors director Albert Ahlin. His style was conservative, drawing on traditional classical European models. His energy was prodigious, but his style remained basically unchanged. Gate stayed with Orrefors for thirty years and died at the age of sixty two, suddenly and unexpectedly, in May 1945.