Vase

This Art Nouveau vase has been attributed to the Bohemian glass manufacturer Johann Loetz Witwe. Of ruby ground with a metallic bronze iridescent finish, the vase is similar in design to Loetz Witwe’s ‘Rubin Matt Iris’ range from 1898. [1] Resembling the colours of a peacock feather, the glass shimmers pink, yellow, blue and violet when viewed from different angles.

The vessel has a stout, bulbous body and a wide cylindrical neck with feathered decoration. Its simple form may have been inspired by 8th-10th-century excavated Persian glass. [2] Its shape was used by Loetz Witwe as a base design for a variety of different colours and glass effects.

Austrian-born, Loetz (?-1844) founded the Loetz glassworks in 1840 in Klostermühle, Bohemia (now Klášterský mlýn, Czech Republic). [3] 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. [4]

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 Gallé and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Loetz worked with the avant-garde designers, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and Marie Kirschner to produce new and exciting work. [5]

Around 1851, Loetz’ widow, Susanne, received ownership of the company and renamed the glassworks Johann Loetz Witwe (meaning ‘Widow Johann Loetz’). [6]

Vanessa Tothill, January 2021

[1] https://www.loetz.com/decors-a-z/rubin-metall [accessed 15 January 2021]

[2] https://agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/bottle-akm646 [accessed 18 January 2021]

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

[accessed 26 November 2020]

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

[5] Greenhalgh, pp. 215-16.

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