ANTIQUE BOHEMIAN OVERLAY RUBY GLASS EWER & GOBLETS EN SUITE

£5,750.00

Description

MAGNIFICENT ANTIQUE BOHEMIAN OVERLAY RUBY GLASS EWER & GOBLETS EN SUITE, SUPERB GILDING! MINT COND. STEINSCHONAU, BOHEMIA C.1880

This exceptional and impressive set is of superb quality and comprises a huge Bohemian pale ruby glass ewer, elaborately gilded with scrollwork foliate and overlaid in white with oval coloured paintings of young beautiful maidens alternating with naturalistic floral panels. To the neck of the ewer and to the lower body are bands of stiff leaves in white overlay with further gilding. The pair of matching goblets are in similar style.

This fantastic set is a magnificent example of the best work at the high point of the Bohemian glassmakers’ and glass decorators’ art and demonstrates their absolute mastery of the medium in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was made in Steinschonau, Bohemia around 1850. This town, now known as Kamenický Šenov, is located in the Liberec region of the Czech Republic which, until 1918, fell within the boundaries of the Austrian Empire. The publication by the Passauer Glasmuseum, ‘Das Bohmische Glas 1700 – 1950, Part II, Empire - Biedermeier – Zweites Rokoko’, illustrates a pedestal bowl from Steinschonau in very similar style and dates it to 1850 although the actual manufacturer is not named.

The story of glass art and design in this area goes back centuries. In the middle of the 19th century, Bohemia was the principal manufacturing place for innovative glassware and Steinschonau was one of the principal Bohemian centres for artistic glassware. By 1800 there were twenty glass factories, including the firm of Josef Zahn, and glasshouses expanded rapidly there during the nineteenth century. A famous Glassmaking School concentrating on artistic glass production, was founded there in 1856; the first vocational school of its kind in the world which is still thriving today. It concentrated on training students in technical expertise whilst developing their wide-ranging artistic abilities. The study of nature and of natural forms, a Steinschonau tradition, was given great importance within the curriculum.

This set is of true museum quality, with all the vessels near mint and in their original condition without any signs of wear, use or damage or any discernible loss of gilding. This magnificent set is presented today as the original purchaser would have first seen it. You will never ever come across a better example of this type of Bohemian glassware from its mid-nineteenth century zenith. It is nothing short of miraculous that the set has survived complete and undamaged for 170 years in this impeccable state.

These objects demonstrate all the skills these glass makers, gilders and painters possessed. Many different and highly specialist craftsmen would have been involved in producing these pieces and their craftsmanship and skilful execution is faultless throughout and of the highest possible standard. The quality of the painting in the three portraits of young female beauties is utterly breath-taking and the subjects still charm today. The quality of the painting in the four floral panels is of similar merit. Both demonstrate the great beauty of the natural world and have been captured in a very naturalistic way and as true to life as the images a camera would provide today.

The impressive size of these objects, their rich jewel like colouring, lavish gilding and exceptional portraits and painting afford an enormous presence which will appeal to any collector of 19th century Bohemian glass and anyone furnishing a substantial property of the period who wishes to evoke its original style and grandeur. It is almost certain that they were made for an exhibition and are certainly of the size and quality which would command great attention in such a marketplace. We

believe it is very likely that they were exhibited in 1851 at Crystal Palace, London, which was the first of the great international exhibitions.

In the ‘Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851’ the only Steinschonau glass manufacturer listed as exhibiting is Josef Zahn. A description of the firm’s exhibits is given which seems very similar to the type of objects we have here: ‘A centre-piece, glass goblets, flower vases, flagons & c’. Other sources state that Josef Zahn was known for its painted and gilded wares in rich jewel like colours. Sales were targeted towards the very highest ranks of society, with the firm counting the Austrian Imperial household, princes and aristocrats among its clients. From its Vienna office it exported large amounts of stylish embellished glassware to the Ottoman and Persian courts and to the rulers and nobility of Egypt, Syria and other parts of the Middle East, a region where this firm’s work was greatly admired and coveted. The firm of Josef Zahn was taken over in the late 20th century by the firm J & L Lobmeyer, another long established and top quality Austrian glass manufacturer.

The finest examples you will ever see!

Dimensions:-

The ewer is 35 cm high

The goblets are 21 cm high

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Product REF: 10091