Rare Loetz Titania Art Glass Vase by Michael Powolny, C. 1910 — Marbled Rose With Applied Ball Feet

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This exceptional Loetz Titania glass vase, attributed to Michael Powolny around the 1910s, exemplifies the collaboration between one of Austria’s … Read more This exceptional Loetz Titania glass vase, attributed to Michael Powolny around the 1910s, exemplifies the collaboration between one of Austria’s most innovative glassmakers and one of the Wiener Werkstätte’s leading designers. The vase features the distinctive marbled Titania décor—swirling layers of rose, white, and crimson glass that create a semi-translucent, organic effect—capped with a gently flared rim and resting on three applied black glass feet, a hallmark of Powolny’s sculptural sensibility.

Loetz, founded in 1836 in Klostermühle, Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), became renowned at the turn of the 20th century for its pioneering art glass. The firm’s experiments with iridescence, metallic oxides, and layered glass paralleled and rivaled the work of Tiffany and Gallé. The Titania décor, introduced around 1910, marked one of Loetz’s most technically complex achievements, combining multiple layers of glass with fine internal veining to evoke the fluidity and depth of natural stone or molten color.

Michael Powolny, a sculptor and ceramicist trained at the Vienna School of Applied Arts, was a founding member of the Wiener Werkstätte. His work emphasized clarity of form, craftsmanship, and playful yet balanced proportion—qualities that translated beautifully into his designs for Loetz. The applied ball feet on this vase are a signature Powolny motif, merging functional stability with a whimsical, modernist touch that foreshadowed the geometric stylization of early Art Deco.

This piece represents the peak of Loetz’s collaboration with the Viennese avant-garde, uniting technical brilliance with refined design. It stands as both a masterwork of early 20th-century Austrian art glass and a testament to the creative dialogue between industrial artistry and the ideals of the Vienna Secession.

Signed with the traditional Loetz "Czecho-Slovakia" mark on the bottom. See less