Most of us who collect Czech glass are not really aware that some of the items in our collections are not Czech, but German. Bavarian and Silesian glass is covered in the fifth volume of the PMC, which has proven invaluable in identifiying some of my pieces but has also made me question some of the attributions, particularly in relationship to Josephinenhütte. My visit to the museum confirmed my suspicions: Quite often Czech glass--by Kralik or Rindskopf--is attributed to German firms. A book I have NOT been able to find would probably clarify matters: Christiane Sellner's GLÄSERNER JUGENDSTIL AUS BAYERS: DIE POSCHINGER UN STEIGERWALDHÜTTEN 1890-1914) (GRAFENAU 1992). Thus, Heckert, Poschinger, Theresienthal, Schliersee, Steigerwald, all fall under the category of German Jugendstil glass.
HECKERT (PETERSDORF) First, an unsigned piece, but documented: Design and decoration by Ludwig Sütterlin
 1. PMC V.98, 12" Second, a large Persian lamp bowl, which was sold as unsigned. But the dealer had not looked enough! The signature was in the inner rim of the neck, not at the bottom, which was completely enameled.  2. LAMP BOWL  A coffee server, also in the Persian mode:
 3. COFFEE SERVER  And now, two Max Rade pieces, both signed:
 5. PERFUME BOTTLE  6. DOLPHIN VASE JOSEPHINENHÜTTE (SCHREIBERHAU)
A quick internet search has established that this company was first located in a German zone of Silesia which after WW2 was cleansed of thnic Germans and given over to Poland. The factory was moved to German territory, but the original factory stayed, with a different, Polish name. More interestingly still, Franz Pohl was directly connected with it while it was still in German hands.
I have serious attribution problems with both the PMC catalog and the display at the Passau Museum, having identified at least 4 of their pieces as Kralik and one (maybe two) as Rindskopf. The display consists mostly of impressive green aventurine pieces enameled in gold, of which I am lucky to own two.  7. JH 1  8. SIMILAR DECOR IN THE PM   10. VASE IN BACK OF THE RED JOSEPHINENHÜTTE OR POSCHINGER? This vase appears in the Passau Museum as Josephinenhütte: 11. VASE IN THE PM However, the identical vase appears in the current Poschinger factory calalog (Photo provided by Phil Perides) 12. VASE IN THE POSCHINGER FACTORY UPDATE! Documentation has come to light that aventurine pieces were first manufactured by Harrach and soon were also made by Josephinhutte in the same style. Than Poshinger decided to follow suit. Thus two factories and two identical vases. WARNING! POSHINGER CONTINUES TO MANUFACTURE THESE VASES! |
POSCHINGER
The first thing to be aware of is that the Poschinger-Steigerwald family dominated glass production in their geographical area for hundreds of years, creating a series of factories that went by different names.
My own experience with Poschinger both in the PMC catalog and when I visited the museum itself has led me to believe there are some serious misattributions in the assignment of pieces. Thus, I shall be very conservative when it comes to my own collection. This is one vase in the PM collection:  13. PM CASE 259/29 UPDATE: The line of vases below is not Aeolus from the 30's!! New information has surfaced about these vases. A kind E-Bayer has sent me an advertisement page showing they were created by Martin Weinberger in 1981!  14. Martin Weinberger for Poshinger  15. Vase  16. PITCHER  17. BOTTLE And I'd be tempted to classify these as Poschinger, though I find nothing in the catalogs that resemble them. The one on the left has been decorated by the same company which did two of my Loetz pieces, while the one no the right shows distinctive Sutterlin decoration.  18. POSSIBLE POSCHINGERS. SCHLIERSEE
Only two pieces in my collection, both identified from my visit to the Passau Museum. The vase below appears as "unidentified" in Band IV, but it is similar to vases in the Schliersee case (look at V. page 16 and V. 55):  19. PMC IV.492 The other vase appears twice in the PMC V: Once in yellow on page 16, and once in the decor below, but with a metal frame.
 20. PMC V.52 STEIGERWALD: The following picture helped me identify one of my vases:
 21. PMC V.56 I recently saw another version of this vase where the grapes come in three colors: Yellow, Purple and Red. Mine are only Purple.
 At the Passau Museum, I found enameled pieces under Steigerwald which are quite similar to Theresienthal:
 23. VASE AT THE PM And here is mine (one of my favorite pieces)  |
