Rindskopf

A reevaluation
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Click on the numbers under each picture to see a larger version

Written by Alfredo Villanueva-Collado, Ph.D.

Photos © Abersio Núñez

I have always liked "tall vases", measuring around 13", and assiduously have added them to my collection of Bohemian iridescent art glass. Many were sold to me as Loetz. However, they had been made by Rindskopf and Sons, a company existing at the time Loetz was producing some of its most beautiful ware.
Rindskopf translates as "cowshead". I was quite surprised and more than a bit chagrined when I received the catalogue from the Passau Museum, Band IV (PMC), and realized how my vases had changed attribution. But I also had good news. My 1985 article on Bohemian iridescent art glass is included in the bibliography.
Most of my vases - with smooth or rough pontils, or no pontil at all - are illustrated in the catalogue, which now serves as a source for this article. Production for most vessels is placed between 1900-1905.


01 left: "Pepita", right: "Grenada"	02 left: amethyst with gold loops, right: "Pepita"	03 right: "Pepita"	04 two "Grenada" vases

	Rindskopf is best known on the American market by its "Pepita" line-clear glass furrowed in light green and shading to a wine red at the top ( 01, 02, 03, 05 ). Wes Nedblake calls this line "Grenada" which, for those who know the pomegranate fruit characteristic of this Andalusian city, better describes a variant shading to a reddish-orange that in some pieces turns tomato red ("Alhambra"?) ( 01, 04, 05 ). The red pieces, usually hand blown, are much heavier; the orange pieces, mold blown, are quite light. The "Alhambra" line has been recently identified by Robert Truitt in GCD; pictures of it can be found in Jeff Preston’s www.czechout.com website. For the "Pepita" line, also see PMC 184, IV.323 / 185, IV.325-27, for the "Grenada" line PMC 182, IV.317
05 right: "Grenada"
The small vase in photo 06 also appears in amethyst glass with silver spotting ( photo 08, far right ) - quite like Loetz Papillon and often sold as such - and amethyst glass with golden loops (photo 02, left) A vase with shape similar to the middle one in photo 06, in deep blue glass with five marbleized "feathers" coming from the bottom, is currently in the collection of Mrs. Norma Brown (a fellow E-Bayer). Such a vase ( photo 07 ) constitutes a link with a possible Rindskopf line characterized by cobalt blue glass either feathered or with oil spots (photo 09).
	06 Three other vases from the "Pepita" line	07	Rindskopf! Not Loetz... 08 ( Sorry, no larger picture available )

The marbleized feathering surface decoration appears in a series of vases which have been routinely identified as Loetz for years.
On the right of photo 10, there is a typical Rindskopf shape in orange; to the left, an inverted teardrop shape in clear over sky-blue. This latter shape also appears in clear green glass with salmon spotting and feathering coming from the bottom (photo 11- the one on the right appears in the PMC IV: 417 as unattributed). The middle and right hand vases illustrated by Wes Nedblake in plate 5.3.0489 (p. 5), correspond to shape and color variants of this line.
	09	10	11

Three other marbleized vases in photo 11A and 11B

11a Left: larger version of left hand vase in 12. Right: same shape as left hand vases in 10 and 11

11b The "marble" decoration is the same as the feathering in picture 11A, but applied differently.

11a

11b

			Arwas shows a further variant of the teardrop shape under Loetz, 139. I also have it in yellow glass cased in clear with colorless oil spotting and tan/white feathering (see left hand vase, photo 12 and photo 05). Photo's 13 and 14 show further examples of the feathering decoration. All of these vases are cased in clear over colored glass, with the feathering applied over the outer layer.
12	13	14
	This pink satin quilted vase is similar in body and shape to photos 02 and 14, but with an outwardly curved three-sided lip. In the PMC, several of the vases described above appear as "unidentified". Given the state of flux in which research on most Bohemian iridescent glass production finds itself, even material classified by experts in current museum catalogues can change attribution in the light of new information. In general, the experts tend to err on the side of caution, preferring not to identify an unattributed piece on the basis of similarity, even though its structural markings may indicate provenance. However, E-Bay is currently showing many Rindskopf pieces, already identified, marketed as Loetz.
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