Bohemian Glass Paperweight
date: label: date made
content: 1918-1938
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This paperweight features a sulphide (porcelain cameo) basket with two birds resting on red and yellow glass strips, and was likely made in Bohemia.
label: Description (Brief)
content: There may have been as many as 600 active glassworks in Bohemia, the area now known primarily as the Czech Republic, by 1835. The earliest evidence of paperweights made in the area dates to 1886. Bohemian paperweights are known for their bright colors.
place: label: place made
content: Czechoslovakia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Paperweights
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
label: Exhibition
content: Wonderplace
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Aaron and Lillie Straus
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.60.65
label: catalog number
content: 60.65
label: accession number
content: 211475
objectType: label: Object Name
content: paperweight
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass, transparent (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cut (joint piece production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: encrustation (joint piece production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 15/16 in x 3 1/4 in; 10.033 cm x 8.255 cm