Description: Masterfully executed large, complex paperweight made by the renowned New Zealand glass artist Peter Raos in 1998. This includes lampwork waterlilies and lily pads of delicate millefiori canes. Signed’Raos 1998 New Zealand’ around the base edge. The interior glass is a striking aqua blue. There is also rich emerald green glitter cane glass banded throughout which makes this an incredibly rich piece to stare at! Height 3 1/4 inch, domed. C ondition : Perfect; no chips, bruises, or scratches. Lightly off axis (I turned the paperweight to the angle where you can see the slight lean in two photos: photo #2 and the very last/final photo) this can be positioned so that this is a non-issue. I have one other amazing Raos piece up right now so please take a look. About the artist (by the artist). In some of my recent work I used the idea of the garden/moon gate as a metaphor to represent our conscious mind- our need to create ideas of beauty and a new sense of order/ composition. I wanted the form of the paperweight to reflect the circular view as if one is entering a Chinese garden through a curved stone moon gate, framing the view. I liked the idea of linking strong complementary colours such as yellow and blue into the composition. The combination of yellow and blue is unusual and reminds me of van Gogh I think there is a strong emotional energy between these colours. I used this dynamic relationship to express the emotional feeling you get as you enter the garden and discover almost instantaneously a cloud of blossoms and you experience through your garden the mysterious connection you have with nature especially the change in seasons. At that exact moment, nothing else exists except for the sea of wisteria blossoms and the sky- you become absolutely aware of the season before it changes. You know the blossoms will fall to the ground and new leaves will emerge – your attention shifts to another vista- the moment is over. I think there is a strong connection between gardens and art: part of the established function of art is to organize reality, impose a new order on experience and in the process of raising it to a higher level of significance, creating beauty. Gardens are emblematic of our conscious mind and our desire to understand ourselves, our need to create ideas of beauty and a new sense of order / composition. I wanted to create an impression of an idealized, constructed garden by linking colour and technique. I used a white background to create perspective and highlight transparent colours especially concentrated in the Millefiori. I repeated blocks of colour around the piece to set up a rhythm in the composition. Flowers are essentially symbolic of life and reproduction and we normally associate reproduction with warmth. I find it an interesting idea to associate flowers with cold light; nature is not limited to human parameters, it allows the most delicate flower to bloom and reproduce in a wide range of temperatures. There is such a juxtaposition of forces and from it comes life. With over 35 years of full time practice I keep returning to the themes of life and how we reconcile our place in nature. It is paradoxical for me when writing about my work because one attempts to be speak rationally to describe things that are irrational, emotional and transient. The item “Superb Peter Raos 1998 Blown Art Glass Millefiori Monet Water Lilies Paperweight” is in sale since Wednesday, July 20, 2016. This item is in the category “Pottery & Glass\Glass\Art Glass\Paperweights\Studio”. The seller is “xoxohellokitty” and is located in Iowa City, Iowa. This item can be shipped to United States, to Canada, to United Kingdom, DK, RO, SK, BG, CZ, FI, HU, LV, LT, MT, EE, to Australia, GR, PT, CY, SI, to Japan, to China, SE, KR, ID, to Taiwan, ZA, TH, to Belgium, to France, to Hong Kong, to Ireland, to Netherlands, PL, to Spain, to Italy, to Germany, to Austria, RU, IL, to Mexico, to New Zealand, SG, to Switzerland, NO, SA, UA, AE, QA, KW, BH, HR, MY, BR, CL, CO, CR, DO, PA, TT, GT, SV, HN, JM.