The Story of Renaissance Glass

Renaissance Glass at Prague Castle

Dining, in addition to satisfying a basic human need, also serves a social function. It mediates contact between people of similar or different social status. Kitchen and tableware, which reflect the social status of the host, are an integral part of dining. The rather simple medieval dining table was mostly adorned with ceramic and sometimes wooden vessels; glass items, and later pewter, were rare. In the Renaissance period that followed there was a wide range of vessels made of different materials. Glass brought grandeur, elegance and lightness to the table.

         Glass production included almost every kind of vessel. The most common, however, were drinking glasses, including bottles, cups, goblets and mazers. Different versions of the various types were made, with a wide range of goblets, in particular. Various small glass bowls, and occasionally plates and basins, supplemented the tableware. The quirks of the Renaissance magnates were reflected in whimsical drinking vessels, in the shape of shoes and pistols, for example. Zoomorphic vessels in the shape of birds and cats were popular.

         In the 15^th and 16^th centuries, Venetian glass was the most advanced in Europe. In terms of technology and aesthetics, it was far superior to production elsewhere. In countries that did not border on the sea, glassmakers tried to imitate Italian work. They were at a disadvantage, however, because of the local potash-lime molten glass, which hardened quickly and was not as malleable as the soda-lime molten glass of countries on the sea.

         Bohemian glass production expanded considerably in the early modern period with the arrival of Saxon glassmakers, who travelled to the Bohemian Lands at the beginning of the 16^th century in search of work. First they settled in the north, where there were excellent natural conditions for melting. Later, these glassmaking families spread to various places in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and the Kłodzko (Glatz) region. It was the same in the deep forests of Křivoklát, with its large supply of wood, rich in quality silicic sand. There, at the beginning of the 17^th century, one of the most famous glassmaking families, Schürer, commenced production.

The Glassworks at Broumy in the Křivoklát Estate

The Schürer family came from Meissen at the beginning of the 16^th century. In 1530, Pavel (Paul) Schürer founded a workshop in Falknov near Česká Lípa and ran a very successful glass business. In 1592, he was ennobled by Emperor Rudolf II. His descendants continued in the trade, founding workshops all over the land. Like his father, Kryštof (Christopher) Schürer was a superb glassworker. According to the archival documents, he made various special, technical glass products for the emperor, undoubtedly for alchemical experiments. The close relationship between Kryštof and the emperor led to the granting of a charter in 1599, which approved the construction of a glassworks in Broumy, in the Křivoklát estate. The master glassmaker, his children and the subsequent owners were free people; their workers were Křivoklát serfs.

         The glassworks in Broumy operated on and off for over a hundred years. Numerous written sources indicate that it was one of the most important in Bohemia. One of its specialties was the production of the abovementioned technical or laboratory glass. Another written source reveals that in the 17^th century, the Broumy glassworks provided Prague with utility and apothecary glass, in particular, medicine bottles.

         Archaeological research conducted on the site of the glassworks in 1988-1989 has demonstrated that the workshop produced various ordinary table glass (bottles, cups, goblets), window discs, as well as glass that required sophisticated techniques, exquisite artistic glass decorated with enamel, gilding and engraving, coloured glass modelled on Venetian chalcedony glass, and other objects. The high quality of the workmanship has been demonstrated by finds of various, half-finished, decorative rods, from which filigree, or ‘threaded’, vessels were laboriously made. Until recently, such vessels were regarded as imports to Bohemia.

         Despite the initial technological difficulties, at the close of the 16^th century the products of the Bohemian glassmakers were of a superb artistic quality. They met the everyday needs of the domestic market and were also coveted by the nobility and even the ruler.

Bird-shaped vessel, 16^th century, Prague Castle
Foto: Jan Frolík