Pink Opaline Vase with Applied Lapis Colored Serpent, ca. 1850

This recent addition is now one of the oldest pieces in my collection. It was made circa 1850s of pink opaline glass, wrapped in a lapis blue glass serpent. Hand painted gold accents are then applied to all. Finely polished pontil. I have seen these attributed to Richardson from England, but I think this one was probably produced by Harrach in Neuwelt (see Das Boehmische Glas, Band III). It is regrettably missing a stopper (inside the neck is ground and there is a number "11" written in gold ink), but it is a remarkable piece of early Bohemian glass. This design concept would be used some 50 years later by Loetz and Rindskopf (see line drawings from the Loetz Musterschnitte, ca. 1900 in the last photo)