Bohemian glass
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Bohemian glass is a decorative glass made in Bohemia and Silesia starting the 13th century. It was especially outstanding in its manufacture of glass in high Baroque style from 1685 to 1750. In the 17th century, Caspar Lehmann, gem cutter to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, adapted to glass the technique of gem engraving with copper and bronze wheels.
Czech glass. Popular Czech Bohemian lead crystal dates back to the Renaissance, when abundant natural crystal was discovered throughout the Czech Republic. Hand-cut glassware—from delicate champagne flutes to intricate Christmas bowls—can be found in elegant Prague shops such as Old Town's well-known Moser Glass. Most notable are the hand-blown ornaments and figurines featuring symbolic stars and moons, swans, owls, and birds.
Bohemia was a part of the former Czechoslovakia, now known as the Czech Republic, and was famous for its beautiful and colorful glass. The history of Bohemian glass started with the abundant natural resources found in the countryside. Bohemian glassworkers discovered potash combined with chalk created a clear colorless glass that was more stable than glass from Italy. This Czech glass could be cut with a wheel. In addition, resources such as wood for firing the kilns and for burning down to ashes were used to create potash. There were also copious amounts of limestone and silica. Bohemia turned out expert craftsmen who expertly worked with crystal. Bohemian crystal became famous for its excellent cut and engraving. They became skilled teachers of glassmaking in neighboring and distant countries. By the middle of the 19th century, a technical glass making school system was created that encouraged traditional and innovative techniques as well as technical preparation. In the second half of the 19th century, Bohemia looked to the export trade and mass-produced colored glass for shipment all over the world. Pairs of vases were produced either in a single color of opaque glass or in two-color cased glass. These were decorated in thickly enameled flower subjects that were painted with great speed. Others were decorated with colored lithographic prints copying famous paintings. These glass objects were made in huge quantities in large factories and were available by mail order throughout Europe and America. They were not fine art but provided inexpensive decorative objects to brighten up ordinary homes Reverse - glass painting was also a specialty of the Czechs. The image is carefully painted by hand on the back of a pane of glass, using a variety of techniques and materials, after which the painting is mounted in a beveled wooden frame. Glass artisanship remained at a high level even under the Communists because it was considered ideologically innocuous. However, although craftsmen retained their talent, the glassmakers lost a sense of how to make designs new and exciting for markets abroad.. In the modern 21st century, this school system is considered to be the finest throughout the world. No other glass and crystal producer anywhere can match as many techniques and technology under the labels Bohemia Glass and Bohemia Crystal.
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