Vase

This Art Nouveau glass vase with applied trailing decoration has been attributed to the Bohemian manufacturer Johann Loetz Witwe. Cylindrical in form with a flared rim, the opaque white vase is decorated with a green glass thread decoration that winds around the neck of the vessel. The applied decoration stands out beneath the vase’s everted rim.

The addition of spiralling glass trails, applied in high relief, was used in Loetz’s ‘Orpheus’ range from 1903. [1] However, the example in the Sainsbury Centre Collection uses different colour combinations to the Orpheus range and has golden amber frit applied to its base. [2]

The object’s textured golden ground is similar in appearance to a surface effect that was developed by Loetz for the ‘Cephalonia’ range in 1904. [3] Inspired by excavated ancient glass, Loetz created the ‘Candia’ ground using a ‘slag-like layer that is torn during blow moulding’. [4]

Austrian-born, Loetz (?-1844) founded the Loetz glassworks in 1840 in Klostermühle, Bohemia (now Klášterský mlýn, Czech Republic). [5] 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. [6]

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. [7]

Around 1851, Loetz’ widow, Susanne, received ownership of the company and renamed the glassworks Johann Loetz Witwe (meaning ‘Widow Johann Loetz’). [8]

Vanessa Tothill, January 2021

[1] https://www.loetz.com/decors-a-z/orpheus [accessed 18 January 2021]

[2] It is possible that this object has been misattributed and the vase is the work of the Bohemian glass manufacturer, Kralik https://www.20thcenturyglass.com/glass_encyclopedia/bohemian_glass/kralikglass_home.htm [accessed 18 January 2021]

[3] https://www.loetz.com/decors-a-z/cephalonia [accessed 19 January 2021]

[4] https://www.loetz.com/decors-a-z/cephalonia [accessed 19 January 2021]

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

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