Vase

This miniature Art Nouveau vase has been attributed to the Bohemian glass manufacturer Johann Loetz Witwe. Blow-moulded to produce a square-based vessel, indented at the foot, which tapers toward a circular mouth with trefoil rim.

The vase has been blown in clear glass and decorated with a spatter of yellow and green spots using a marvering process that entails rolling the hot blown glass over coloured glass granules. [1] Loetz exploited this process in his ‘Papillon’ ranges from 1898. This method of production also proved popular with other Bohemian glass manufacturers, such as Frank Welz and Kralik.

Fully integrated into the vase’s smooth walls are pulled glass threads, which spiral around the body of the vessel in frenetic waves. The energetic movement of these pale spun lines enhance the dynamic quality of the vessel’s flared, undulating rim.

Austrian-born, Loetz (?-1844) founded the Loetz glassworks in 1840 in Klostermühle, Bohemia (now Klášterský mlýn, Czech Republic). [2] 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. [3]

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. [4]

Around 1851, Loetz’ widow, Susanne, received ownership of the company and renamed the glassworks Johann Loetz Witwe (meaning ‘Widow Johann Loetz’). [5]

Vanessa Tothill, January 2021

[1] https://www.20thcenturyglass.com/glass_encyclopedia/bohemian_glass/spatter_glass.htm [accessed 18 January 2021]

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

[accessed 26 November 2020]

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

[4] Greenhalgh, pp. 215-16.

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

[accessed 26 November 2020]