Tischer, Karlsbad Enameled Pitcher with Peonies, c. 1890

This beautiful piece of glass belonged to my good friend Don Henson, who sadly passed away in December of 2020. Don and his wife Jane collected Bohemian and French glass for many, many years, and had one of the most amazing glass collections I have ever seen. (I never saw it in person, but the photos he showed me of his collection were full of shelves and shelves of amazing glass!) After his passing, Don's family worked with an auctioneer who is familiar with the kind of glass he collected, and there have been several large auctions of his collection. He particularly loved Josephinenhütte pieces and had many in his collection, but he also had everything from Loetz to Legras! I wanted to have a special piece to remember him by, and was happy to be able to purchase this piece of Tischer from his estate.

This pitcher is white opaline glass that has been beautifully enameled with stylized peonies; I love the soft coral colors with the gold accents. I believe it is probably a Harrach blank; Tischer used these quite often for their work. It is marked with Tischer's stamp, and is decor number 1441.

Not a lot is known about Tischer, although quite a few vases and pitchers have been found with the Tischer, Karlsbad mark. It is generally known that he lived in Karlsbad (Austria) and supposed that he had a decorating studio there roughly between 1880-1900. I have now identified 16 different Tischer decors with numbers, and have files of other decors that still need numbers. If you have any you'd like to share, please let me know!