In the heart of Europe, in Bohemia, several glassworks developed at the end of the 19th century a production of art glass objects, whose flowing shapes and decorations are part of the Jugendstil artistic movement.
After producing objects inspired by past styles and the Orient, the Bohemian glass establishments also turned, at the end of the 20th century, to creating art objects that participated in the international Art Nouveau (Jugendstil in German) movement, whose naturalistic theme influenced their creations.
Among these establishments, the Loetz factory stands out as one of the most important in southern Bohemia. By developing a production of vases and bowls characterized by iridescent surface decorations and sinuous shapes inspired by nature, the glassworks achieved great success and distributed its creations internationally. This constantly renewed creativity, made possible in part through collaborations with merchant-publishers and Viennese artists, also earned it several awards at the World's Fairs, notably in Paris in 1900.
In northern Bohemia, the Pallme-König and Habel glassworks also produced, at the beginning of the 20th century, models of blown and iridescent glass vases, whose surfaces were generally decorated with an irregular network of applied glass threads in relief.