Glass history: Bohemian glass tradition
Task: You are working as a trainee at the glassmuseum in Rheinbach. The head of the press department has begged you and your colleagues to write a short overview on the history of glass for the catalogue of the permanent exhibition. Use the following text as a database and write a summary on the glass tradition of bohemia. Search the web for pictures to illustrate your text. Put both in the Glass Classroom.
If you don't know exactly how to summarize, open this worksheet: summary (beginners)
Bohemian villages
What is your first association with the term “bohemian”? Do you think of a fine beer-brewing tradition, or unpronounceable town names? Germans have a saying: “lauter böhmische Dörfer”, referring to something completely incomprehensible, because of the odd spellings of Bohemian towns. The expressions “Vie de Bohème” or “bohèmien” originated in mid-19th-century France, in reference to the old idea that the gypsies, freedom-loving travelers, mostly came from Bohemia.
When used
in reference to glass, “bohemian” is often used to describe 19th-century
faceted and engraved, bright-colored beakers, bowls, goblets and vases, that
were available throughout Europe, America, and many other parts of the world.
Bohemian glass became a type, such as Venetian glass, or English cut glass.
The history of glass
in Bohemia dates from the 13th century with its first culmination point in
the 16th century.
Renaissance
During the renaissance, the glass industry of Venice contributed to improvements in production technologies and to the development of decorated techniques, mainly to enamel painting. Next to the glassworks in Horní Chribská , which was managed by the Friedrichs - a traditional family of glass masters at that time -, a new glassworks was founded by Pavel Schürer in 1530 at Falknov, today known as Kytlice. Pavel Schürer came to Falknov from the small town of Aschberk, today called Ansprung. Schürer was born into a family that soon became one of the most famous glass-master families in Bohemia. From the 1570's, these glassworks became centers of glass decoration by means of using burnt enamel paints. The Thirty Years War interrupted the glass production in this area. Soon after this war ended, the local glass industry experienced another boom period, this time during the Baroque period
Baroque
The Baroque was the period of the greatest prosperity of glass production in the Lusatian Mountains. However, compared to the previous years, the core of Baroque production was mainly glass decorate. In addition to glass painting and cutting, engraving became a widely applied method. During the Baroque period, the glass decorators from Northern Bohemia were amongst those glass masters who were most sought out for their exquisite abilities. However, the success of Bohemian Baroque glass-making was principally contributed to by advanced trading in glass products. The center for sales was located in this region in the areas surrounding the contemporary towns of Kamenický Šenov and Nový Bor. From this site Czech glass was exported to nearly all of Europe, and penetrated even the remote markets of America and the Orient.
In the 17th century primary glass-working was separated from glass refining. Local craftsmen obtained glass from glassworks and decorated it in their own home workshops. This type of production supported the people living in mountain villages whose modest incomes otherwise depended exclusively on agriculture. In the second half of the 17th century the first guild association of glass refiners was established, receiving the support of the local nobility. At the same time, knowledge of a new type of high-quality clear glass material known as Czech crystal was spreading. Czech crystal is a perfect material for refining by means of cutting and engraving with the aid of rotating copper wheels. Around the year 1700, engraved glass from Northern Bohemia achieved a level of extraordinary quality.
During the 18th century, glass-making activities brought about the loss of timber in local forests, which was reflected in higher prices for wood. This was why a majority of glassworks ceased to exist during the same time period, and the production of glass was oriented on the refining of glass imported from other parts of Bohemia and Moravia, the only exceptions being the glassworks in Horní Chribská and a newly-founded shop that was later called Nová hut (New Glassworks). Only these two glass factories continued to work until the second half of the 19th century when wood, whose stock in this region was exhausted, was replaced by coal.
Rococo
The organisation of trade in glass was absolutely unique at that time. Traditional trading missions made by individuals were replaced by new commercial methods as richer farmers and craftsmen began to establish business associations called 'companies' as early as the first half of the 18th century. Being mutually bound by contract, they were able to organise and finance the purchase and transportation of raw materials more effectively. They further arranged for the refining of glass with local craftsmen who, as a rule, worked strictly according to a customer's requirements. The companies then transported finished products to foreign markets where they were sold. These business companies also established branches called 'factories' in a majority of important cities and ports in Europe and America.
The second half of the 18th century was marked by a crisis mainly caused by a change in customers' tastes connected with the diminishing interest in engraved glass, the discovery of English cut lead crystal, and the failure of local businessmen to conform to new trends. This unfortunate situation was further aggravated by the blockade of overseas markets during Napoleon's wars.
19th century
The crisis lasted until the 1820's when foreign markets were made accessible again and a new stage of prosperity began following the signing of the peace treaty in 1815. Coloured glass was becoming more and more popular. Glass makers in the Czech lands began to experiment with new types of coloured glass materials and refining technologies. Northern Bohemia contributed to these new developments, especially through its outstanding glass technologist, Friedrich Egermann (1777-1864). Egermann, originally trained as a glass painter invented and developed a number of methods which were a substantial contribution to an upswing of local glass making tradition and to growing exports. His first inventions in the field of decorated glass were: matted, so-called agate, glass combined with fine painting; and biscuit and mother-of-pearl enamels, both developed in 1824. Egermann's studio cooperated with the best glassdecorators of that time.
Here you
can find a
biography of Egermann.
In 1818, Egermann introduced yellow staining: i.e. colouring of the glass surface with ions of silver. In 1820, Egermann developed so-called lithyaline, which was a new type of multi-coloured glass similar to precious stones. This glass was later produced and decorated with great success throughout the entire area. However, he made his most important discovery in 1834 when he introduced red staining (colouring with ions of copper) - the so called ruby glass. Staining decorated mainly by engraving and cutting soon became one of the popular methods that were characteristic of Nový Bor production. This method has been used up to the present time. Egermann himself was a recognised professional. Even though his inventions spread quickly, his own studio in Nový Bor remained among the most successful glassworks in the region.
In the 19th century the popularity of engraved glass came back. The glass engravers around Nový Bor and Kamenický Šenov attained great mastery, and many of them asserted their skills abroad, for instance in France, England, and Sweden. In the second half of the 19th century, the best masters came together in a famous refinery workshop erected in Kamenický Šenov by Ludwig Lobmeyr, a Viennese businessman. Regardless of the customers' changing demands and tastes, local products continued to be made with the use of traditional methods from the first half of the century, such as refining by means of various painting techniques, staining, cutting, and engraving. Inevitably, glass from Northern Bohemia lost its prominent status, as well as influence, with the world's glass industry.
Here you
can find
a biography
of Lobmeyr.
The second half of the 19th century was further marked by the establishment of the first schools of glass. The school of glass founded in 1856 in Kamenický Šenov is considered to be the oldest institution of its type in Europe. Somewhat later, namely in 1870, a similar school was opened in Nový Bor, following in the footsteps of a no-longer existing Piaristic college, the members of whose Order had aimed their pedagogical activities toward economics and the glass industry since the last third of the 18th century. Both schools were strong advocates and propagators of new artistic views on glass, thus shaping the orientation of the local industry. In these schools the education has continued until now.
The preservation of the traditional production of glass in this region is in the hands of the Museums of Glass in Nový Bor and Kamenický Šenov. The former was established in 1893, gathering the collections of local glassmakers and traders. Today, this museum - located in the town square -, offers a rich collection of glass refined through the use of local traditional methods. The Museum of Glass in Kamenický Šenov was founded between the two world wars. Its main mission is to document the development of, and to present, cut and engraved glass from this area, as well as from the production of the Viennese firm, Lobmeyr. Every three years this museum hosts a symposium on engraved glass.
glass museum in Kamenický Šenov glass museum in Nový Bor
Modernity
In the 1870's this region witnessed the introduction of the railroad, which made the transportation of coal - amongst other goods - so convenient. Subsequently coal began to be gasified, in which form it was used to heat glass furnaces. New technologies were soon adopted by dynamic businessmen who established a network of new glassworks to meet the needs of local glass refiners. This initiated a grand expansion of glassworks' basic industries, along with the establishment of the glassworks in the Lusatian Mountains and their foothills which did not stop until the economic crisis of the 1930's, followed by the period of the Second World War. Following the Second World War, many of these factories were not reopened.
Four new glassworks, usually named after their owners' wives, were established in Falknov-Kytlice: 'Augusta' Glassworks in 1874, 'Marie' Glassworks and 'Tereza' Glassworks in 1893, and 'Rudolf' Glassworks in 1900. None of them are in existence anymore. Other glassworks were built in Kamenický Šenov: 'Rückl' Glassworks, established in 1886. The first glass factory erected in Nový Bor in 1874 was called 'Helena'; however, this factory does not exist any longer too. Another factory was known as the School Glassworks, operated by a specialised school of glass making and commissioned in 1910. Nowadays, it serves the needs of the same school again. In 1913, Flora Glassworks was built. In 1893 a glass factory owned by the Rückl company was founded in Skalice, near Ceská Lípa. This factory is still in operation. In Polevsko, two glassworks were erected: the first, 'Anna', in 1900 (which was later closed down); and the other, 'Klára', in 1907. In 1872, a glassworks called 'Tereza' was built in Svor (it is currently out of operation), followed by the Anna Glassworks opened in Dolní Prysk in 1907. Of 18 glassworks established between the 1870's and 1930's, only nine have survived to see the year 2000.
Beginning in the mid 1950's, the then-Czechoslovak glass industry began to participate in world exhibitions. Czechoslovak glass scored great successes, for instanc, at these prestigious exhibitions: the Exhibition in Milano; Expo 1958 in Brussels; exhibitions in Sao Paolo, Brasil, Delhi, India, New York and Corning, America; Expo 1967 in Montreal; and Expo 1970 in Osaka. Each of these events presented, among others, glass created by leading artists from Nový Bor.
note: This is an abbreviated and simplified version of two texts on bohemian glass history on http://www.bohemian-glassworks.com and http://www.cmog.com
