Lot: 300

Karl Schmoll von Eisenwerth
'Peacock Feather' Vase, 1899/1900

H. 35.5 cm. Made by Ferdinand von Poschinger, Buchenau, Spiegelhütte factory. Cased glass, colorless, light blue, combed light violet and green threads, pearlescent matt luster. Bottom marked: No. 446, Ferd. von Poschinger Buchenau Bayern Glashüttenwerke (gold).

Ferdinand von Poschinger came into his inheritance when he reached the age of 24 in 1881. He was a cosmopolitan, open to new things and very enterprising. Under his leadership, the Buchenau glassworks and the Spiegelhütte took part in numerous international exhibitions as early as the late 19th century, such as the 1893 World Exhibition in Chicago. Ferdinand actively sought contact with contemporary artists such as Hans Christiansen and Julius Diez in order to keep his range up to date. He became aware of Karl Schmoll von Eisenwerth while the latter was still a student in Munich, where the factory owner was looking for motivated young artists. Karl, the talented son of an art-loving family, spent the years 1898/99 in Buchenau with keen experiments and studies, which earned him and the company Ferdinand von Poschinger a silver medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Over the years he would repeatedly create glass designs for his fatherly friend, to whom he remained devoted for life. Schmoll based his designs for the glass works of Ferdinand von Poschinger on the works of the Bohemian glass manufacturer Joh. Loetz Wwe. Multi-layered vessels are produced, which receive their decoration through the use of metal oxides and manual processing. Finally, these vessels are again steamed with metal salts and thus receive their pearlescent shimmer. This type of glass was brought to the fore again by the work of the American Louis C. Tiffany and dominated the glass production, particularly in Central Europe, from the turn of the century up to the First World War. In contrast to the Bohemian glass manufactory, Schmoll tends to stay a few hues of the same coloring with regularly warped (combed while blowing) thread decorations, so-called 'peacock feather decoration' on stylized floral vessel bodies. The versatile artist also dabbled in French models, creating cased glass using etching and cutting techniques, and even dabbled in the 'marqueterie de verre' technique masterfully created by Emile Gallé, whereby prefabricated pieces of glass are joined to a pre-existing vessel.

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Hammer Price: 2,800 €