Gablonz ornament
Material: Glass beads, glass, wire
Size: 22 cm high, 8 by 7 cm
Age: first half 20th century
Origin: Czech, Gablonz
Condition:
Very good used condition.
Describtion:
Exceptionally elaborate ornament made of silvered glass beads and colored glass rods. At its center is a large pink glass bauble, surrounded by numerous silver-colored and vibrant pink baubles as well as freely suspended beaded pendants. The intricate, multi-part construction and impressive size give the ornament a particularly magnificent appearance. Comparable examples of this size have survived only very rarely. A collector-worthy original dating from the first half of the 20th century, with authentic age-related signs of wear.
History of the production of Gablonz glass bead jewelry
The production of Gablonz glass bead jewelry has a long tradition. The historiography began around 1550 in Gablonz / Sudetenland (today's Czech Republic) and developed in connection with the jewelry and glass industry. At that time, the first glassworks were built and from these, glass grinding shops. In the countless Gablonz family businesses, the beads were blown up from glass tubes in front of an oil lamp with bellows reinforcement, or later with a type of Bunsen burner. This is how the "freehand beads" were blown up by hand without any shaping aids. Later, the glass tubes were blown up into "shaped beads", again in front of the "lamp", using a bead forming machine developed in this region. Father and grandfather were usually responsible for blowing up the beads. Mother and grandmother's busy hands then strung this bead material on wire in certain formations.
