Bohemian Glass

Bohemian glass is the reason central Europe led the world in glass for two centuries. When Venetian soda glass was replaced by a harder potash-lime crystal in the seventeenth century, the material could take deep cutting and engraving without shattering — and Bohemian workshops did both, at a depth no Venetian would have attempted.

The aesthetic is heavy, clear and engraved. Ruby and cased colours arrived in the nineteenth century, along with the cameo and overlay techniques that made the region's glass a luxury export; the same skills carried into the twentieth century through factories such as Moser.

Read it by the depth of the cut and the quality of the polish — Bohemian work is judged by how much light the facets return, and by whether the engraving is cut or merely etched.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are clear crystal: heavy, deeply cut, engraved with hunting scenes, landscapes and coats of arms.

The nineteenth century adds colour — ruby, cased and overlay glass — and the cameo work that became the region's luxury export.

The twentieth century continues the technique in factories and studio workshops, where the cutting tradition survives as a national skill.