A Heinrich Hoffman Intaglio Glass Salt
This blue glass salt (salt dish) of six centimetres in diameter dates from the early 1920s. It has a beautifully executed intaglio of a classical Roman maiden and a cherub who look like they are about to kiss. The intaglio is designed by Czechoslovakian glass maker Heinrich Hoffman. An intaglio is an engraving or incised figure in stone or other hard material (in this case glass) depressed below the surface so that an impression from the design yields an image in relief.
The theme for “Looking Close… on Friday” on the 5th of February is “blue on a black background”, so I thought this beautiful little blue glass salt would suffice. It has been photographed sitting on a piece of French black velvet.
Heinrich Hoffmann (1875 - 1939) was prominent among glass makers at the luxury level of vanity glass production. Heinrich’s reputation as the specialist for articles made of jet black crystal was established in Paris just prior to the time of Lalique´s venture into glass. Heinrich’s´s vanity pieces followed the Art Deco ethic in shape and subject, but echoed an Art Nouveau stylization late into the 1920s. Production was handled by various Czechoslovakian contract factories and cottage finishers, with jewelled bronze mounting completed in Austria, and sales transacted in Paris. The realistic glass jewels manufactured in Gablonz are legendary and were used also in the thinner brass Czechoslovakian mountings of the 1930s, as well as later in costume jewellry by names such as Chanel, Dior, Schiaparelli and Hattie Carnegie.
A Heinrich Hoffman Intaglio Glass Salt
This blue glass salt (salt dish) of six centimetres in diameter dates from the early 1920s. It has a beautifully executed intaglio of a classical Roman maiden and a cherub who look like they are about to kiss. The intaglio is designed by Czechoslovakian glass maker Heinrich Hoffman. An intaglio is an engraving or incised figure in stone or other hard material (in this case glass) depressed below the surface so that an impression from the design yields an image in relief.
The theme for “Looking Close… on Friday” on the 5th of February is “blue on a black background”, so I thought this beautiful little blue glass salt would suffice. It has been photographed sitting on a piece of French black velvet.
Heinrich Hoffmann (1875 - 1939) was prominent among glass makers at the luxury level of vanity glass production. Heinrich’s reputation as the specialist for articles made of jet black crystal was established in Paris just prior to the time of Lalique´s venture into glass. Heinrich’s´s vanity pieces followed the Art Deco ethic in shape and subject, but echoed an Art Nouveau stylization late into the 1920s. Production was handled by various Czechoslovakian contract factories and cottage finishers, with jewelled bronze mounting completed in Austria, and sales transacted in Paris. The realistic glass jewels manufactured in Gablonz are legendary and were used also in the thinner brass Czechoslovakian mountings of the 1930s, as well as later in costume jewellry by names such as Chanel, Dior, Schiaparelli and Hattie Carnegie.