Czech Glass: From Bohemia Crystal to the Glass Flowers at Harvard with Dr. Jennie Hirsh

This seminar focuses on the long and colorful history of exquisite glass produced in Bohemia and Silesia, two regions that lie within present-day Czech Republic. Renowned for discovering a more stable form of clear glass by combining potash and chalk, Bohemian artisans became internationally recognized for their ability to cut and engrave glassware and other objects with unparalleled skill. We will retrace the ways in which the natural landscape of this famed glass region was especially conducive to glass production: having sand whose composition was rich in silica, an ingredient that renders clear glass, along with densely wooded forests that offered wood as fuel to heat the mixture of elements (plus lead) resulted in the efficient production of top-quality crystal. 

In exploring the rise and growth of the Czech glass industries, we will discuss how the craft developed, producing important firms like Swarovski (which eventually moved its operations to Austria) as well as the post-1989 revival with larger companies, like Preciosa, as well as smaller firms to create the area now known as Crystal Valley. In addition to studying the institutions and traditions at work to continue to train the glassmakers from the inception of this art until today, we will consider how companies like Moser have produced luxury glassware decorated with 24-karat gold or platinum for royalty along with their more modest creations for glass enthusiasts collecting at all levels since 1857. 

This richly illustrated lecture will survey not only the various techniques featured by Czech artisans but also the wide-range of applications for highly desired Czech glass and crystal, from eyeglasses, jewelry, trophies (like the Brit awards designed by famed Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye), and cathedral windows to chandeliers, vases, and myriad other household items. Finally, we will virtually visit the celebrated Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants at Harvard University—the so-called “Glass Flowers”—to investigate how, between 1876 and 1936, father-and-son artisan duo Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka produced one of the most breathtaking collections that includes 4300 glass models depicting nearly 800 different plant species. In addition to looking at these gorgeous pieces, we will discuss how modern conservation has revealed information about these enigmatic and elusively elegant sculptures. 

Led by an expert on modern and contemporary art, Dr. Jennie Hirsh, this Conversation will explore the uniqueness of glass produced in what is now the Czech Republic. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of what distinguishes this school of glassmaking along with some tips for seeing glass during visits to the area and beyond through magnificent examples of the Czech tradition as seen locally as well as across the globe in chandeliers at La Scala in Milan, the Palace at Versailles, Schonbrunn Palace and Opera House in Vienna, and Qasr al Watan, the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi.