LONDON.- An outstanding private collection of Bohemian Glass is to be sold at Bonhams Masters of Bohemian Glass: Part II sale on 30 September. Part I of the collection, sold at Bonhams in December 2013, made £450,000.

Among the highlights are:
An important exceptionally large ruby stained Exhibition vase from 1850-60, engraved all around with rutting stags, and running deer in a forest. Estimate £20,000-30,000.

A part amber stained goblet circa 1837-40, showing a hunting scene with a huntsman on foot spearing a boar brought down by a pack of hounds, with a further huntsman blowing a horn on horseback in the distance. Estimate £12,000-18,000.

The centre of Bohemian glass making was Carlsbad, the spa town founded - according to legend - by Emperor Charles IV, who is said to have stumbled across the hot bubbling spring while out hunting. By the early nineteenth century, as with the other spa towns of Bohemia, it had become a social hotspot as Europe’s aristocrats descended to take the waters and hunt. The region’s glassmakers, heirs to a centuries-old tradition, were in much demand producing the trophies awarded by aristocratic hosts to successful hunters. Deer hunting was, therefore, a dominant theme.

Bohemian glass makers used a technique known as Tiefschnitt, which involved carving away glass to create entire scene in intaglio reliefs. The development and perfection of colour stains in the 1820s added a new dimension.

The golden age drew to a close as craftsmen across the rest of Europe mastered Bohemian techniques. Prominent glass artist August Bohm left his wife and family in Meisterdorf to seek his fortune abroad, only to return unsuccessful and die in penury. History, has however, been kinder. As the obituary of master Karl Pfohl predicted: ‘He was not able to acquire a high standing as an artist during his lifetime... but one day establishments will purchase his work and pay its weight in gold’.