Enamel Decorated Bohemian Glass Vase with Songbird

• Baluster (glass) - An architectural term for a column in a balustrade or staircase.
  
  When used to describe glass, it can either refer to the shape of the stem of a wine glass, being slender above and pear shaped below, or the shape of the whole vessel, usually a vase. In fact the baluster shape is often described as being vase-like.
  
  The description of a vase as being of baluster shape covers a wide variety of shapes that often bear no resemblance to the original architectural form.
• Harrach Glass - The Harrach glass factory is located in Harrachov, a small town in what was Northern Bohemia, but is now the Czech Republic, near the Polish border. It has been producing glass since 1712, with peak production in the 1850s. In the 19th century, their output was so widely regarded that a large part of their business was selling glass blanks (undecorated glass) to other major Bohemian glass manufacturers.
• Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
  
  For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
  
  Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
• Manner of .... / Style of ..... - A cataloguing term where the item, in the opinion of the cataloguer is a work in the style of the artist, craftsman or designer, possibly of a later period.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Bohemian (Czech Republic) glass wares
  • various wares 458
  • vases 237