Bohemian Stoneware Acid Bottle from Starck Works Břasy, 1903

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Salt-glazed stoneware chemical bottle (Säureflasche) from the Břasy works of Montan- und Industrialwerke A.G., formerly Joh. Dav. Starck. Bohemia, dated … Read more Salt-glazed stoneware chemical bottle (Säureflasche) from the Břasy works of Montan- und Industrialwerke A.G., formerly Joh. Dav. Starck. Bohemia, dated 1903.
The shoulder is stamped in an oval: Montan-Industrialwerke / vormals Joh. Dav. Starck / Pras, with the date 1903 in a separate cartouche below.

Johann David Starck (1770–1841) built one of the largest private mining and chemical concerns in western Bohemia — coal, alum, vitriol and, above all, oleum. Acid of that strength could not be stored in ordinary pottery, so the firm ran its own stoneware works to supply bottles, retorts and flasks.

Břasy (German Pras / Bras), near Pilsen, was one of those sites. In 1885 the family business was converted into the joint-stock company whose name appears on this bottle; by 1903 the Petschek group already held a major interest.

The lid is screwed onto the body, making a tight fit.

The form is the industrial Ballon: a tall, slightly flattened oval body with a short, thick neck. The glaze is a brown salt glaze with a yellow flash on one face. These bottles were made to hold sulfuric acid and related products in the factory and in trade. See less