This vase belongs to one of the most celebrated design collaborations in twentieth-century Bohemian glass: that between the Moser Glassworks of Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) and the German-trained designer Heinrich Hussmann (1899–1982), whose Art Deco work for the firm in the late 1920s produced a series of deeply, boldly acid-carved vases that remain among Moser's most sought-after production of the period. Hussmann's designs for Moser broke decisively with the firm's nineteenth-century enameled and gilt tradition, favoring instead thick-walled, sculptural blanks carved in high relief through acid etching — a technically demanding and expensive process, as the design had to be built up in successive acid baths to achieve the layered depth seen here. These deeply acid-carved vases were, in fact, very costly to produce, dating to the earliest years of the Art Deco period. The present example carries Hussmann's signature preoccupation with underwater and avian subject matter: a composition of fish rendered in relief, a motif the designer returned to repeatedly for Moser, here paired with the sweeping tail and plumage of a long-feathered bird — both drawn with the confident, faceted linework typical of his output for the firm in this period. The glass itself is worked in Moser's characteristic art-glass color palette of the era, here a shifting rose-to-amethyst tone with an iridized, frosted finish across the carved relief — a treatment consistent with Moser's experiments in dichroic and "Alexandrit"-type glass during the Hussmann years, where the body's color appears to shift depending on the light source and angle of viewing.
Details
- Inventory Code
- 3395
- Category
- Crystal & Glass
- Material
- N/A
- Origin
- Czechslovakia
- Period
- c.1928-1930
- Dimensions
- Height: 18 cm, Nozzle diameter: 10 cm, Base diameter: 9 cm, Base thickness: 4 cm
- Condition
- Excellent cosmetic condition with minimal wear commensurate with age. Fully functional.
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