Posted 5 years ago
kralik1928
(202 items)
Thanks to a great Ebayer we have a new discovery of a kralik line of glass, Osiris. Osirus was a God of life, death and the flooding of the Nile- you can see his sordid family lineage on Wikipedia.
This mark is significant because there almost no production records of the Wilhelm Kralik Company, especially in the years after World War One.
To understand the company have to work backwards from what is uncovered in collections and auctions. Sadly, there is little interest (so far) of this glass from museums and art glass publishers. This Mark joins the other line-delineated marks like Iris, Flux, Bambus, WI-KRA-SO and Flowerall marks. I place more confidence in these marks than I do in the Kralik arched (acid etched) mark that is seen on many Kralik vases. I expect there are more marks to come out in the near future- let's hope!
Osiris is an opalescent striped pattern over crystal base color; a similar technique was used by French glass makers mostly seen in lamp work. I find it simple and especially beautiful in the first piece below. all the pieces come in a polished rim and a ground pontil (with exception of the large green vertical striped piece seen in Photo 4A)
1. The only marked piece is a pink oval vase with the diamond Osiris mark (nude woman holding or touching the sun). This piece is also marked with the arched acid mark as well as an import mark and a retailer mark (4 marks!)
2. In Green and white variations
3. In smoke glass variations; Second vase is seen commonly in Bambus decor
4. In green vertical (not sure this is the same decor but this shape is seen in Marquetry decor) the second vase is a three-handle piece signed with the arched mark as well
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Great post, is the Osiris label in the Glassmarken book? Just curious.
That is a good question and one that might lead to changing this post.
1. For starters I don’t know the history of the Glass Mark Lexicon, where it came from, how many revisions, etc... I did book some time in the archives of the Viennese design school. From the book I found many companies I didn’t know and some companies missing and it wasn’t the Bible of glass to me but it is a very good resource.
2. I’m not aware of the the osiris mark being anywhere in the book (but no Bambus either). It shows all the marks for one company all in one place regardless or date or location of individual factories.
3. Kralik had more than one factory. They may have bought or sold glass companies into the Kralik company rather than build them from the ground up; therefore taking over inventory, production techniques etc...
4. T.o.d, your question might be asked because you want to use it against someone research- I hope that isn’t the case here.
5. I need to reword this page because I contend these marks are for marketing a product to a certain country (exotic decal) or delineating it for the purpose of patenting it. This might be why there are no Bambus decors in Welz or Ruckl. These marks are specific to a decor in the same way as the Loetz book where you can see the names, shapes, sizes of their decors.... the only difference is we lost the Kralik books! My apologies for writing a book here in the response
Thanks Jericho,
You raised some good points here. No, I did not have an agenda against anybody, it is to inform myself about the book and it's content. I find it sad that Kralik is not better represented.
I wish I could purchase the book but it is way above my glass book purchase budget.
i would look for it in libraries or museums, there are about 20-30 pages that concern us with Bohemian glass of a very small era....
I think it could be a product of the Ernst Steinwald glassworks. There is a document in the archive of the Teplice region, which states, among other things, that this glassworks offers glass with the names of decors: OSIRIS, KAKTEE, VESUVIO and CARINTHA. Other names of decors used by the E. Steinwald glassworks are: PASTILA, AQUARIN, FLOWERAL and BAMBUS.
I am tempted to go to your country right now and flush this out!!! This would be great news and I can know a little more about what I collect!
So far, I have information only quoted on the phone, as soon as I have in the details, I will inform.
Ales, notice this label on the bottom, it matches the caged piece in your post
I am just wondering if the vase in the third photo is the same shape as seen in the "Osiris" - Glaeser photo that Alex put up here : https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/284285-ernst-steinwald-and-co--osiris
By the way Osiris was also a range marketed by Stevens & Williams but a different vertical (mostly) technique.