Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Belgium and the Netherlands Glass => Topic started by: josordoni on December 17, 2006, 10:13:00 AM
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I have a lovely little opal glass Edwardian miniature vase, hand painted with a scene of Folkestone on at th e moment,( Here is the link (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230066877173)) that I bought with some crested china. I think that the factory is Dolhain Glass Works in Belgium, but I don't know what the Wirths bit of the name is. Does anyone have any info on this factory?
thanks!
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Yes the answer is, there is no information at all about Dolhain Wirths. I have quite a collection of Dolhain souvenir pieces, from as far afield as Whitley bay, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Holland. As far as I have been able to grasp the company was a decorator, not a glass maker because they never featured in any of the trade journals. They must have been located in Dolhain, a smal village on the Belgian side of the border near Maastricht. The company name was Wirths. I suspect their blanks were supplied by Val St. Lambert - but they may have imported them from Schneider or Legras too... It is uncertain when they worked but it seems likely they were active at least until the thirties - but as said, no written record has been found in any publication so far. Do let me know if you find out, will you?
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HI,
Has any more information come to light about Dolhain Wirths?
Regards
Chris
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A bit of an old thread, but...
Google throws up a very commonly repeated idea that the 'Dolhain Glass Factory' supplied the blanks, which were then decorated by M. Wirths. Trouble is, not a single one gives a source, so presumably one copies from another who copies from another, ad infinitum. There is an intriguing pdf / ebook but it's flagged up as a potential source of virus so I'm not opening that beggar.
Can't find any other references to a glass factory in Dolhain (I checked in Dutch and French, too) so it remains a bit of an enigma.
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Since the exhibition and book (2009) about the Dolhain glass maker Pierre Jost, at least we now have some further insight.
Pierre Jost was a glass artist who operated his studio in the village of Dolhain from 1918 to 1936. They decorated around 250.000 pieces per year, employing 40 - mostly female - decorators. Jost, born in 1885, first entered in the Wirths factory in 1901, learning the trade.
Blanks were bought from outside - mostly from Val St. Lambert but also from other glassworks in Wallonia (Scailmont and Herbatte). In 1922, Wirths moved to Verviers so the mention of both Dolhain and Wirths on the same piece means it is pre- 1922.
Jost stayed in Dolhain and opened his own workshop, making the same items that Wirths made, later expanding with other decorated pieces - until 1938.
Wirths in Verviers did not survive the economic slump either.
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It looks like the book was written in French so might not have had much of an impact in the UK. I'm struggling to find many references to it on Google, so I'm not actually sure that it had much impact anywhere!
Still, it's useful to confirm that Wirths was only a decorator rather than a glass producer.
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I bought this little hand-painted vase for the museum since it features Ryde Esplanade, Isle of Wight. I note Ivo's previous message about dating these Wirths pieces, but our vase has nothing on the base. Does that mean it is earlier or later than 1922? The image depicts a horse and carriage, a gas(?) lamp, and a man with a bowler hat and walking stick. That might indicate pre-World War I rather than later.
Just for the record, the vase measures 7.6 cm high x 8.9 cm maximum diameter and is signed “M. Wirth 4”. Do we know what the number stands for?
Anton
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Just to add to my post. Here is a postcard dated 1913 of Ryde Esplanade:
https://www.francisfrith.com/ryde/ryde-esplanade-1913_66302 (https://www.francisfrith.com/ryde/ryde-esplanade-1913_66302)
You will see that the band stand and lamp are there. Judging by the perspective, the image on the vase seems to have been taken from the hotel opposite, on the far right, from an upper floor. There are plenty of horses and carts. But in a later image, dated 1923, there are only motor vehicles.
https://www.francisfrith.com/ryde/ryde-royal-pier-hotel-and-esplanade-1923_74657 (https://www.francisfrith.com/ryde/ryde-royal-pier-hotel-and-esplanade-1923_74657)
Anton
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There is a nice book about Pierre Jost and his work for Wirths, including photos of pieces as described. It's in French and by L & E Bragard. (and available online...only via my website!
Sorry mods, but the book is not available from anywhere else online, so I can't offer any alternative link ;-)!
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Hi
is it still possible to obtain this book? My school days french might just about be up to a rough translation. I have inherited a large collection of Wirths glass and would love to know more about it. thanks
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Yes I have one last copy for sale. Please send an email to jay@hogelandshoeve.be
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Hi
I sent an email a couple of days ago. Have you received it?
thanks
jackie