We are pleased to offer this gorgeous rich Bohemian Cranberry, hand blown (12) panel optic blown drape tankard, finished in a crystal applied handle and lovely pewter cap ring & spout. The pattern is excellent relief, and the glass shows a slight evidence of iridescence in the folds. There is no comparable that we can find on this side of the pond, and that includes the Hobbs Brockunier Venetian, and the Northwood + Jefferson blown swirl patterns that are not in relief. The only possibility might have been Phoenix, but their Phoenix Drape (12) panel pattern is vertical & is a die-away multi colored glass.We have found no comps from England either. This is a classic and valuable 10.75 inch Bohemian heirloom. Research Consulted: Loetz Bohemian Glass 1880-1940 (Neue Galerie N.Y.) / by Jan Mergl, Ernst Ploil, and Helmut Ricke; Glass Museum Passau, European Glassware 1650 to 1950, Guide to the Museum / by Georg Holtl; Collectible Bohemian Glass 1880-1940, and Collectible Bohemian Glass Vol. II 1915-1945 / both by Robert & Deborah Truitt; Bohemian Glass 1400-1989 / by Sylva Petrova and Jean-Luc Olivie (photos by Gabriel Urbanek); Moser Artistic Glass (Ed 2) / by Gary D. Baldwin; Classic internet site, http://www.loetz.com/ ; AND http://sites.google.com/site/loetzandglass/Home x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xBohemian hand blown glass has been highly prized & sought after for well over 100 years, establishing itself, along with the Stourbridge region of England as the two hand blown glass capitals of the world in during the latter 19th century. Bohemia covered an area of central Europe (redefined by the First World War) with Moravia and Slovakia, with Germany to the West, Austria to the South, Silesia (Poland) to the North, and Hungary to the East. Although good quality engraved pieces of glass had been made for hundreds of years in the area, it was nearly all on colorless glass. In the early 19th Century there was a small supply of transparent enameling on colorless glass developed by Samuel and Gottlob Mohn, and later by Anton Kothgasser in Vienna. Because of the skill involved each piece was time consuming to produce and the output limited. Small Bohemian glass houses (hutte) copied this type of enameling, but the quality disparity with the practiced houses was obvious. Colored glass at this time was the province of Venice, who for obvious reasons, kept their methods of production a closely guarded industrial secret. However, in the early 19th Century three gentleman chemists challenged Venetian supremacy. They were Freiderich Egermann and the Counts Buquoy and Harrach. Their discoveries eventually led to inexpensively produced fine quality colored glass at a price acceptable to the emerging middle classes. The Lusatian Mountains were a mere abandoned forest, but offered everything that the emerging glass industry would need. Thanks to abundant stocks of wood - used as both fuel and as raw material, as well as abundant available Quarts & potash deposits, together with an already established glass industry that enabled this emancipation from Venice, the area saw phenomenal growth. By the 1860s a real industry was established of about 100 glass huts (factories) employing roughly 40,000 people. The well known colors of Ruby (deep red), Cranberry (lighter red), Amber, Cobalt (blue), green, and violet were hugely popular not just in the local markets of Prague, Munich, Vienna and Berlin, but with tourists (many British) craving unique & beautiful souvenirs to carry back to England. This influx of fine hand finished & colored glass into the British Isles, fueled the great coming glass battle, and in major part contributed to the birth and growth of the Art Nouveau movement, up until the First World War. In the 1920s, the resumed production of custom Impressionist Bohemian glass forms helped usher in the Art Deco revolution across all of Europe. |
