Re prunts: Prunts originate on drinking vessels made for export to German territories, as well as other areas in European during the 15th C, and were incorporated to prevent slippage. A prunt is a blob of molten glass that is applied (fused) to the target object. This glass blob is in turn “touched” with a steel tool that has been machined with a particular prunt design. There are many types of prunts, the most common being the so-called “raspberry prunt”, as they are referred to in English. Prunts are referred to a “Nuppen” in German. Some German/Prussian glasshouses refer to prunts as “Rösel” (little rose), instead. More often than not, the German/Prussian/Bavarian glasshouses left their prunts natural (i.e. not decorated). Many Bohemian glasshouses, on the other hand, would enamel a dot on the high spots of the raspberry prunt in primary colors. After all, Bohemian glasshouses are well known for going overboard when decorating their glassware. They just couldn’t leave those innocent prunts plain, now could they?
Some of the other types of prunts, which immediately announce the maker to the informed viewer, are the bullet-shaped prunts employed by Gräflich Harrach’sche Glasfabrik, or Harrach'sche-Neuwelt (Harrach in Neuwelt), and which, more often than not, are decorated in gold.
Likewise for the large, disc-shaped prunts that terminate in the middle with a point, that one can easily say is a trademark of Theresienthaler Kristallglas Fabrik (Theresienthal) in Bavaria, and their use go back into the 1800’s. More often than not, these are in a contrasting color to that of the target object. Most common for Theresienthal is a teal prunt on amber glass, which is very striking. The glass makers at Theresienthal likely got the idea for their prunts from 17th C. drinking vessels known as Krautstrunk (these mimic cabbage stalks, after the leaves have been hacked off), within the Waldglas (forest glass) genre. The main difference being that the center point is turned up on the Krautstrunk prunt, representing the leave that had been hacked off.
Yet another type are the large, bump covered discs that surround the hand-holding portion of the German and Dutch Berkemeyer, another drinking vessel of the 17th C., also of the Waldglas genre, and which is similar to the Krautstrunk mentioned above.
It is worthy to note that German bottles (predominately for wine) incorporated an applied glass seal identifying the manufacturer, as well as the date and place of manufacture. This seal is yet another type of prunt. These bottles are, incidentally, highly prized by collectors, as some can be quite old, and very valuable.
Rolf-Dieter
Topic: Heavy Modern Vases with Prunts : Murano ? Czech ? ID prob Koudelka for Prachen (Read 4680 times)
