Posted 4 months ago
glasfreund
(36 items)
While I was researching older documents, I came across the publication of a sample or sales catalog entitled “Fantasie-Artikel aus Farbenglas”. It was made available by Dieter Neumann in 2005. The original multi-colored luxury book, partly printed in gold, contains several plates with lampshades, utility glass, decorative vessels and vases from the Historicism period. The texts are in German and French. There are no references in the pattern book to the manufacturer(s) of the glassware. The printer listed is C. G. Röder in Leipzig, Germany. There is also no indication of the year of publication or the company responsible. As there is no indication of the manufacturer, it can only be a reseller. The year of publication can be narrowed down to 1897 on the basis of the illustrated glasses attributable to Lötz.
One set of glasses is subtitled “Olympia - grün mit mattem Metallschimmer” (Olympie - vert metalisé). These are indeed Lötz glasses in the Olympia color scheme, all of which are decorated with gilded relief enamel. Unfortunately, the decor numbers are not given.
Another set of vessels is marked “Japan - grün mit weis umsponnen u. metallisirt” (Japon - vert, blanc filé autour et metalisé). The green-colored glasses shown here are completely interlaced with white, horizontally spun threads. Some vessels have colorless applications such as handles and feet. Many of these glasses can be traced with their shapes in the Chiné version by Lötz. There are only two paper patterns in series I by Loetz that list “Japan” or “Japan with enamel rim” as decoration (I-6612/III and I-6613). Both shapes are among those illustrated in the sales catalog.
Collectors are familiar with these glasses. In addition to the white net, which is technically similar to the Chiné decor, they usually also have a white enamel rim. Loetz uses a single thread for the net in the Chiné decor. The white net for the Japan version, on the other hand, consists of bundles of very thin white threads and therefore also differs technically from the Chiné decor.
The glasses are strongly optically ribbed. When they are blown out, small roundish cells appear between the threads. The quality of the thread decoration on the glasses seems rather inferior. For me, this was one reason why I did not consider these glasses to be made by the Loetz glassworks. Nevertheless, the Johann Loetz Witwe glass factory must now obviously be regarded as the manufacturer of these glasses marketed as “Japan”.
In the past, it was considered whether the decor could be described as “white Chiné”. However, as there is no such entry on the known paper patterns and due to the technical differences, this remained only a vague assumption, which now proves to be incorrect. We will probably never know why Lötz chose the name “Japan” for green, white-spun glasses.
To the pictures:
Pattern I-6612/III. One of two paper patterns with the entry “Japan”. This vase is illustrated in the luxury catalog, as well as known in its Japan version. For comparison, the same vase is shown in creta Chiné.
Pattern I-6613: “Japan” is also listed here. I am not aware of an example in the Japan decor. A version in heliotrope Chiné serves as a comparison.
My handled bowl with the Japan decor. The production number is not known. The design is similar to some glasses from the top row of the sales catalog.
All glasses with the “Japan” decor from the 1897 catalog. Unfortunately, the image quality is rather poor. The sales cataloge was provided by Dieter Neumann for the Pressglas-Korrespondenz (published 05/27/2005). The Loetz community has every reason to thank Mr. Neumann for making the catalog available.
Congratulations on the identification and this great article.
Wonderful discovery, Volkmar - Congratulations! Great writeup!
Thank you for your research into the Japan decor. It is quite thorough and conclusive. Congratulations on adding a new Loetz decor!!
I am curious about item C48 shown in the catalog picture. Does it have a darker, perhaps black threading on it? Or perhaps this is just creta?
Sammyz: C48 looks darker, but belongs to the entire group of Japan decorated glass, probably an effect with the copy of the copy...
Congratulations, and thank you…it’s nice to see my shape and height in the catalog.
The C42 interests me because of its similarity to my PN=I/7008 of 1897 as seen as 1.06 in 'Early Loetz production from 1880 -1897" or is 1.05 closer ???
My research based on a paper print of the catalog from 2005. After contacting the editors of the Pressglas-Korrespondenz the catalog is now available for download:
https://www.pressglas-korrespondenz.de/archiv/pdf/pk-2005-2w-02-mb-fantasie-1890.pdf
Fantastic article on newly identified decor. Thank you.
C42 in the catalog differs from both objects 1.06 and 1.05 in Dr. Hasselbach's article just a bit. If you are in the JUGENDSTIL GLAS group in Facebook have a look at my posting on the Japan decor from 7/21. There is an image of C42 in Japan.
Thank you all very much for the many supportive comments. It is somehow a reward for many hours of research :-) .
Fantastic article, & thanks so much for your super research! Hope I can find an example of this attractive decor for my collection, too!
I will look into downloading this catalogue, it sound very interesting.
By the way, I offer a second thanks for helping me identify the shape of an early Loetz vase I bought on eBay last night. It is not in this particular decor, instead a pale blue, but has the same form as item C42. I'd seen it a few days ago, thinking it might be a "sleeper" but was not 100% certain of an attribution. Seeing your post confirmed it!
IronLace, you are welcome! Good luck with the next finds. It is so important to have good sources - and this cataolog is contempory! May be containing more Loetz glasses in numbers than all others together.