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  Museum ­
  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  inventoried
  in  1932,  but  certainly  dates  from  the  same  period.
However,  bronzite  decorated  glassware  probably  achieved  a  breakthrough  at  international ­
  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  Contemporary ­
  artists.
J.  &  L.  LOBMEYR,  VIENNA
The  bronzite  decorations  designed  for  Lobmeyr  by  Viennese  artists  and  executed  in  Bohemia
  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  following
  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  empioy
  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),  designs ­
  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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