STEINSCHONAU SCHOOL OF GLASSMAKING 
These so-called bronzite decorations were probably developed at Steinschönau school 
of giassmaking. As far as I know, glass decorated in this manner was first presented at 
the Winter exhibitions of the Austrian Museum of Art and industry (now the Austrian Mu 
seum of Applied Art, Vienna). 
Winter 1910/11: 
“Vase. Cut crystal with bronzite decoration” (cat. no. 281, price 65 crowns) 
“Vase. Crystal with bronzite decoration (ieaping stags, etc.)” (cat. no. 281, price 
65 crowns) 
“Vase. Cut crystal with bronzite decoration” (cat. no. 283, price 28.60 crowns) 
“Rose jar. Crystal with bronzite decoration” (cat. no. 284, price 13 crowns) 
Winter 1911/12: 
“Vase. Crystal, with bronzite decoration” (cat. no. 336, price 8.45 crowns) 
“Vase. Crystal, with bronzite decoration” (cat. no. 347, price 10.24 crowns) 
“Vase. Crystal, with bronzite and gold decoration” (cat. no. 378, price 19.50 crowns) 
A vase from Steinschönau school of giassmaking was entered in the inventory of the 
Austrian Museum as early as February 1911 (cat. no. 1, probably identical with cat. no. 
282 of the 1910/11 winter exhibition). Another vessel (cat. no. 2) was subsequently in- 
ventoried in 1932, but certainly dates from the same period. 
However, bronzite decorated glassware probably achieved a breakthrough at inter 
national exhibitions only at the “Werkbund” exhibition in Cologne (1914), to which the 
Vienna firm of J. & L. Lobmeyr sent bronzite giass to designs by well known Contempor 
ary artists. 
J. & L. LOBMEYR, VIENNA 
The bronzite decorations designed for Lobmeyr by Viennese artists and executed in Bo- 
hemia were produced using a specific etching technique. Thanks to the documentation 
preserved in the archives of the Lobmeyr Company, we have a rare opportunity of follow- 
ing the progress of a piece of glassware Step by Step from design to execution, and 
sometimes even to the customer. The Lobmeyr Company acquired the design from the 
artists, had the undecorated glassware sent to the painter, who in turn was able to em- 
pioy other glass workers for various jobs (e. g. to engrave the circular areas of variant A 
decoration, or perhaps to coat the glass with bronzite prior to the decorating process, 
and possibly even to etch the glass after the decoration had been applied, etc.). 
The individual bronzite decorations were given suitable designations in order to make it 
easier to distinguish between them: black bronzite variant A, B, C and F, and “octogonal 
bronzite” to designs by Josef Hoffmann (cat. nos. 1-82), brown bronzite variants D and 
E to designs by Josef Hoffmann (cat. nos. 83-97), designs for goblets (“with straight 
bowl” and “with round bowl”) by Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel (cat. nos. 105-112), de 
signs for flower sets (“smooth oval” and “oval faceted”) by Urban Janke and Ludwig 
Heinrich Jungnickel (cat. nos. 113-120) and by Oswald Dittrich (cat. nos. 98-104), figural 
designs by Arnold Nechansky (cat. nos. 123-129). Some of these decorations (certain 
line decorations by Josef Hoffmann and Ornaments by Oswald Dittrich) were executed 
both in black bronzite and in gold. 
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