Loetz Diana Cisele, Prod. Nr. Unknown, Part 1

Another beautiful Diana Cisele in a dramatic shape with a wide ruffled rim that resembles the habit worn by "the Flying Nun"! (for those of us old enough to remember) Note the characteristic pale blue glass underneath the oil spot exterior.

I'm posting this piece for two reasons - One, I absolutely love Diana, so any time I get a new one in a new shape, I just have to share it. Second, the shape of this piece is not shown as one of the five thousand designs in the back of Loetz Boehmisches Glas 1880-1940, Band 2 (Katalog der Musterschnitte - commonly just referred to as "the musterschnitte", or "Ricke, Band 2") However, variations of published shapes are known to exist, and in fact, the musterschnitte represents only ten percent of all the drawings in the Loetz factory archives. One form that is shown is a commissioned Max Emmanuel design numbered 346/686, which has the same shaped bottom, but the rim has eight ruffles instead of six. And that is my point - the musterschnitte is not a complete record, and variations exist. A piece with the exact same shape, but a different rim in a known Loetz decor, then, should not be dismissed just because it doesn't match Ricke 2 exactly. That being said, the Loetz drawings that are published are extremely accurate - so it does make sense to scrutinize a piece if it doesn't match the line drawings with a fair degree of precision.

In part 2, I will show examples of the published version of this shape. In the meantime, enjoy this example of Diana Cisele!