Rosewater sprinkler

This glass Art Nouveau vessel has been attributed to the Bohemian glass manufacturer Johann Loetz Witwe. Inspired by antique Persian rosewater sprinklers, the form has been blow-moulded in iridescent green glass. The dimpled globular body of the vessel has been pulled up into an undulating sinuous neck that culminates in a sensuous, half-moon mouth.

The neck and folded back rim of the sprinkler possess an organic quality evocative of unfurling leaves and buds. Nature has also inspired the scrolling stylised stems and flowers that have been applied to the glass as a fine silver overlay.

This vessel is similar in design and manufacture to object number: 21033 in the Sainsbury Centre Collection, suggesting that the goblet and rosewater sprinkler are companion pieces. Both objects resemble the ‘Crete Papillon’ range of 1898 in their colour and oil spot finish. [1]

The celebrated Amercian glass-artist Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) also manufactured rosewater sprinklers in his trademarked Favrile glass. [2] This particular design by Loetz Witwe developed from early designs that were modelled after Louis Comfort Tiffany’s ‘Jack in the Pulpit’ vase [Loetz Pattern Number 346/355] and Tiffany’s rosewater sprinkler [Loetz Pattern Number 346/389]. [3]

Austrian-born, Loetz (?-1844) founded the Loetz glassworks in 1840 in Klostermühle, Bohemia (now Klášterský mlýn, Czech Republic). [4] 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. [5] Non-European, archaic forms appealed to late 19th-century tastes.

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. [6]

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