Topic: Need help on this Bohemian Cut Vase

[Nancy128]

I know I should know who might have made this type of glass.  It's Blue, white opaqued cased over clear and is cut.  It did have gold paint inside the cut squares but has worn off.  I was thinking that it might be Otto Prutscher's design, but I need some help.  The only other thing is that on the base rim there are roman numerals that are cut "VIII".  It's about 6 inches tall.  Thank you for helping!!

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-10865

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-10866

[Sklounion]

Hi Nancy,
If Otto Prutscher, then I would be expecting that Lobmeyer would be a serious possibility for the manufacture. Not really what I would expect from Loetz, but some of the better Haida refiners would also be candidates.
Regards,
Marcus

[Nancy128]

Thanks Marcus, I'll start looking in that direction.  I doubt that it's Lobmeyer, wouldn't it be marked? 

[krsilber]

You're right that most Lobmeyr was signed after 1870, but not all of it, and if it was signed in gilt it could have worn off.  However this doesn't really look like Lobmeyr to me. 

Marcus, have you seen Lobmeyr in this style?   I agree that Haida is a possibility, but the gold I would think makes it less likely, no?

Nancy, how did you come to think it might be Prutscher?

I find this kind of cut-to-clear work hard to pin down.  It was done in America, France and England as well as in Bohemia, where it continues to be made.  I'm sure there's variation by date and region, but there was also overlap.  The gold is a clue; can you tell if there was any design to it, or was it just gold lines bordering the windows?

It looks like the surface it a bit mottled, kind of like it was acid polished.  Is that true?  Is it inside or outside?

[Nancy128]

Kristi, I was going through the Soethby's archives yesterday and I came across a beautiful goblet that had the same pattern and Prutscher was the designer, that's how I came up with his name.  I just know I've seen this type of glass before, just don't remember where. 

There is no other design in gold other than the gold borders.

I don't believe this was acid polished, Kristi.  And the mottled look could be the condensation in the interior from me cleaning it and it had just not dried before I took photos. 

Thanks.

[Lustrousstone]

Apparently,Lobmeyr was mostly a retailer and contracted only the best manufacturers and finishers. I'm not sure this quite fits that. Harrach could be a contender though. Truitt and Truitt show examples of coloured over opal and cut to clear with gilding

[Nancy128]

Thank you Christine, I will go and take a look into Truitt & Truitt.

[krsilber]

"Lobmeyr was mostly a retailer "  It always bothered me that Truitts say that about Lobmeyr.  I love Lobmeyr glass, and it seems to underestimate the impact they had on the industry and not give them the credit they deserve as superb designers.

I wondered if the mottled look was simply water, didn't actually think it was acid polishing.

I agree Harrach is a possibility, it's just hard to say for certain with this stuff.  I have a beaker that's opaque greenish over white cut to clear and went through this same process.  Never did figure out who made it.  Maybe you'll be luckier (or better at it!) than I.

[Lustrousstone]

But was any Lobmeyr family member actually a designer? Didn't the company usually have contracts with the best designers rather than employing them to create to order?  Surely they just had superb taste and excellent marketing skills, much along the lines of Liberty, just in a more specialised area. And there's nothing wrong with that. When you look at their website they are proud to be retailers.

[Frank]

The early Bohemian glass business was a very different affair to that in most countries as this 1878 extract from the Glass-Study mentions.

The glass-houses are generally built in the midst of forests...
... in Bohemia is divided into two distinct branches: The glass-blowers who generally manufacture the rough, unfinished articles, and the glass-refiners...
...it is found more economical to move the furnace than to bring the fuel to it..
...This state of affairs prevents owners of glass works from carrying on the decoration and finishing of glass in the neighborhood of the furnaces...

... in 1876 there were 177 glass-houses, with 273 furnaces and 1,663 pots, employing 7,100 workmen.

...The glass decorated by the Messrs. Lobmeyr is manufactured by M. Lobmeyr’s nephew, at.../quote]

Lobmeyr were not just a retailer and were classed as a glassmaker in the 19th century at least. They also pioneered iridescence c1860. For further reading see the classic:

L. Lobmeyr,  “Die Glasindustrie: ihre Geschichte, gegenwartige Entwicklung und Statistic”