Vase

This Art Nouveau iridescent glass vase with corded neck has been attributed to the Bohemian glass manufacturer Johann Loetz Witwe.

Blow moulded in opalescent white glass, the surface has a pleasing mother-of-pearl lustre. Of modest appearance, the vase’s narrow cylindrical form becomes fuller and rounder toward the base so that the vessel resembles a stretched teardrop. Midway up the vessel, the neck is ringed with applied threads of green iridescent glass. This decorative addition is integrated in the wall of the vase in low relief, so as not to detract from the elegant line of the object’s profile.

Austrian-born, Loetz (?-1844) founded the Loetz glassworks in 1840 in Klostermühle, Bohemia (now Klášterský mlýn, Czech Republic). [1] From 1879, under the direction of Max Ritter von Spaun, the company produced historical designs inspired by Roman excavated glass and art glass, which emulated hard stones such as onyx and intarsia. [2]

Bohemian glass from this period adapted to the Art Nouveau style, manufacturing iridescent and acid-etched glass that emulated the commercially successful glassware of Émile Galléand Louis Comfort Tiffany. Loetz worked with the avant-garde designers, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and Marie Kirschner to produce new and exciting work. [3]

Around 1851, Loetz’ widow, Susanne, received ownership of the company and renamed the glassworks Johann Loetz Witwe (meaning ‘Widow Johann Loetz’). [4]

Vanessa Tothill, January 2021

[1] https://hickmet.com/blogs/newsfeed/know-your-artists-johann-loetz

[accessed 26 November 2020]

[2] Paul Greenhalgh, ed., Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 (London: V&A Publications, 2000), p. 215.

[3] Greenhalgh, pp. 215-16.

[4] https://hickmet.com/blogs/newsfeed/know-your-artists-johann-loetz [accessed 26 November 2020]