Johann Loetz (1880-1940) Large Butterfly Vase Phänomen C.1900 Austria, Art Nouveau, Gallé, Daum

SUPERB and important glass vase with iridescent decoration called butterfly wing or Phänomen circa 1898 / 1900. Height: 16cm diameter: 21.5cm and circumference: 70 cm. Condition: very good, a tiny firing defect of the order of a millimeter (see last photo) that's all. It is therefore an important vase from the Loetz Austria factory, with a bulging shape on a light heel and an Art Nouveau, polylobed lace-like neck; The decoration is also typical, iridescent in shades of yellow, gold, with reflections of green, blue, silver etc... Magnificent emblematic piece of Loetz production. The LOETZ glassworks (1836-1947) In 1836, Johann Eisner established a glassworks in the South Bohemian town of Klostermühle, which is today part of the Czech Republic and called Klášterský Mlýn. His heirs sold the glassworks to Martin Schmidt in 1849, and two years later Schmidt sold it to Frank Gerstner, a lawyer, and his wife Susanne. She was the widow of Johann Loetz, a glassmaker about whom we know very little. Gerstner transferred the company to Susanne shortly before his death in 1855, and she ran it successfully, mainly manufacturing crystal, overlay and painted glass. In 1879, Susanne transferred the company, now called "Johann Loetz Witwe," to Maximilian von Spaun, the son of her daughter Karoline. A year later, von Spaun hired Edouard Prochaska to modernize the factory and use new techniques, filing patents. The first fruits of this collaboration were interesting innovations in glass. Success at the exhibition in Brussels. Munich and Vienna were crowned with awards, also at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. In 1897, von Spaun saw Tiffany's products exhibited in Bohemia and Vienna, which convinced him that the Art Nouveau style was also the way forward for Loetz Witwe. The following eight years were the most artistically significant and profitable period in the company's history. Loetz produced numerous Art Nouveau pieces. The LOETZ Style: The special, typical color and relief of Loetz glasses give them an extremely refined touch. Loetz was also a pioneer in the use of electroplating techniques, and he patented many of its processes. The innovative and original forms used by Loetz, inspired by glass objects from ancient Persian and Roman art, are typical of Art Nouveau glassworks. Other equally popular Loetz motifs were nature-inspired vases decorated with original "swan neck" or "peacock" shapes in iridescent blue-green tones. In 1904, the decline began. After the First World War, a temporary respite came thanks to the production of popular colored opal glass, but the inevitable investment in the renovation of the glassworks in 1920 led to new financial problems. Lacking new ideas, Loetz Witwe returned to adapting his old Art Nouveau designs to the Art Deco style, but sales continued to decline. The Great Depression of the 1920s and another fire in 1930 hit the company. During the 1930s, the glassworks changed hands several times. It closed for long periods and finally declared bankruptcy, once again in 1939, after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. The glassworks were manufactured for the Third Reich during the war, but production finally ended in 1947.