INTRODUCTION 
Up until now I have been familiär with the terms black, brown, gold and copper bronzite 
from archival documents, but without any further description of the manufacturing pro- 
cess. Basically the technique of bronzite decoration probably involved painting a special 
bronzite paste onto the undecorated glass, drying and possibly firing it. The desired 
decoration was then etched out using a coating lacquer and a specific painting tech 
nique. 
Robert Schmidt is one of the few authors to deal briefly with bronzite decoration: 
“The collaboration between the Lobmeyr Company and Professor Josef Hoffmann dates 
from the year 1910. The first designs produced by Hoffmann, a teacher at the Vienna 
College of applied art, were destined for bronzite decoration, which had been developed 
by Professor Hugo Max in Steinschönau a short time before. The technique consisted of 
giving the surface of the glass a uniform black or brown, slightly shiny metallic covering. 
The ornamentation was then covered with lacquer and the uncovered area etched away 
with hydrofluoric acid, leaving the design in black or brown on the mat glass surface. 
This decoration was very much in keeping with the predominant black-and-white fashion 
of the time, and in the years that followed Hoffmann drew up six different designs which 
were also used for small Services and flower sets . .. Other artists such as L. H. Jung 
nickel and Urban Janke also produced designs for this bronzite decoration“ (Schmidt 
1925, p. 73) 
We know nothing about the origin of the term “bronzite", nor about the detailed techni- 
cal processes used to produce it. To my knowledge it was not common in Contemporary 
glass-making outside the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, nor is it dealt with in the techni- 
cal glass publications at my disposal, For this reason the notes preserved in the Lob 
meyr company’s order books - usually in the form of slips of paper pasted in - seem to 
me all the more valuable. One such slip of paper contains a copy of a letter from Karl 
Fiedler to the Lobmeyr Company and runs: 
“Fiedler letter of 23rd October 1911 / Re 206/09, I must unfortunately note to our 
greatest mutual dismay that the missing pieces belonging to this order have gone 
wrong as a result of having being etched too quickly, due to the asphalt lacquer peel- 
ing off. This is a consequence of the lacquer not being sufficiently dry. The articles 
should have dried for at least a further 4 days, but in order to try and keep to the de- 
livery time if possible, I tried to do it. But unfortunately the etched things just cannot 
be rushed. The articles which I am now working on again will probably take about an- 
other 3 weeks. I have again given the two beakers A with stripes (?) and engraved 
balls to Herr Kromer, who will invoice you himself.” 
The order number 206/09 quoted is apparently a mistake: it should have been 206/11. 
We can learn several very important facts from the few lines quoted above: 
1. The coating lacquer essential for etching was an asphalt lacquer which had a drying 
time of at least four days. 
2. The total production time for glassware with bronzite decoration was at least three 
weeks. 
3. Emil Kromer of Steinschönau engraved the small circular areas of variant A bronzite 
decoration at least for this order from Fiedler. Under order number 206/11 from Fiedler 
in the Lobmeyr company’s order books we do in fact find the note “clear balls ground by 
Kromer invoiced (?) 20th November 1911”. 
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