(2) Incredible Loetz Style Bohemian Iridescent Art Glass Vases. Neither piece is signed, but are clearly master works requiring the finest craftsmanship to complete, with extruded twisting handles all around the long neck of the work and pitcher-plant tops. Likely either from the Loetz factory itself, a revision of the famed Silberiris pattern from 1899, or a copy by a highly trained (but apparently modest) revivalist from the early days of the Art Glass Renaissance. 

Size: 5 x 15 in. 

Founded in 1836 by Johann Eisner in Klášterský Mlýn, Bohemia, the Loetz glassworks initially produced high-quality crystal before shifting toward innovative colored glass. Eisner’s heirs sold the works to Martin Schmid in 1849, who sold it two years later to Dr. Frank Gerstner and his wife Susanne, who subsequently renamed it Johann Loetz Witwe after his death in 1855 and ran it successfully on her own for the next two decades. The factory underwent extensive modernization in 1879 under new ownership by her grandson, Maximilian von Spaun, and achieved its golden age during the Art Nouveau period at the turn of the 20th Century, securing a prestigious Grand Prix at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Loetz became world-renowned for its brilliant iridescent and metallic surfaces, characterized by organic, rippling patterns that rivaled American contemporary Louis Comfort Tiffany. The factory frequently collaborated with avant-garde designers from the Vienna Secession movement, including Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, to merge historic craftsmanship with modernist forms, but despite its artistic triumph the firm faced severe financial hardships brought on by the economic fallout of World War I and a devastating factory fire in 1930. Ultimately, after struggling through the Great Depression and changes in political boundaries, the historic company permanently closed its doors in 1947, but its pieces remain some of the most sought by collectors of art glass around the globe. 

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