ANTIQUE BOHEMIAN ART GLASS VASE – LOETZ / HECKERT TRADITION
A highly unusual and visually striking piece of late 19th / early 20th-century Bohemian Art Nouveau glass, with a particularly impressive physical presence for its compact size.
The vase has an attractive yellow-green to olive ground with extensive iridescence, producing changing golden, green, blue-green, orange, reddish-brown and darker tones across the surface. The combination of colour, iridescence and irregular embedded glass gives the piece an almost organic or mineral-like appearance.
The form is particularly interesting: a compact, rounded cabinet-vase form with a relatively short neck and an exceptionally deeply undulating, individually hand-formed rim.
The lower body and base have an unusually heavy, textured treatment, incorporating dense granular or frit-like glass into the surface. This contributes significantly to the character of the piece.
Perhaps most striking of all is its weight: approximately 569 grams. At only 10.5 cm high, this is an exceptionally substantial little vase, giving it a surprisingly heavy feel when handled.
ATTRIBUTION
I am offering this as Bohemian Art Nouveau glass in the Loetz–Heckert tradition, rather than claiming a definitive Loetz maker attribution.
The overall form has similarities to documented Fritz Heckert work, while aspects of the heavily textured glass treatment are suggestive of the experimental surface treatments associated with the wider Loetz/Bohemian glassmaking tradition.
However, the vase is unsigned, and I have not found documentary evidence that allows it to be attributed conclusively to Loetz, Heckert or another specific Bohemian glasshouse.
This distinction is important. During the Art Nouveau period a number of Bohemian manufacturers were producing sophisticated iridescent and experimentally decorated glass, and forms, colours and techniques could overlap between manufacturers. Even specialist Loetz research cautions that attribution based simply on appearance is considerably less secure than identification through documented shapes, décors, colours, factory records and comparable museum examples.
I have therefore deliberately avoided presenting an uncertain maker attribution as established fact.
The present description should be understood as carefully researched Bohemian Art Nouveau glass, probably within the Loetz/Heckert sphere of production and influence.
MEASUREMENTS
Height: approx. 10.5 cm
Maximum width: approx. 14 cm diameter
Rim diameter: approx. 11.5 cm
Base diameter: approx. 9 cm
Weight: 569 g
The relationship between its compact dimensions and unusually high weight is one of the most interesting physical characteristics of the piece.
Very good antique condition with no damage.
No chips, cracks or repairs observed. The glass retains its substantial original character, including the irregularities and individual hand-working associated with handmade antique glass.
NOTE FOR COLLECTORS
This is an object for someone who appreciates the glass itself as much as the name attached to it.
Its appeal lies in the unusual combination of:
rich yellow-green/olive iridescence
extensive colour variation
dense textured and granular glass decoration
highly individual hand-formed rim
compact cabinet-vase proportions
and an unusually substantial 569 g weight.