Loetz, Alphonse Debain, an Art Nouveau Iridescent Glass Bowl

Dating back to the Bourbon Restoration in France and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, l’Escalier de Cristal (the Crystal Staircase) was founded by Madame Veuve Désarnaud as the first company to offer decorative objects made from crystal and gilded bronze. The firm was located in the Palais Royal in Paris, opposite the Louvre. It grew through a series of owners to become the gold standard for reproductions of 18th-century furniture — so perfect they were often mistaken for originals.

Désarnaud won numerous awards for her creations, including a gold medal at the 1819 Paris Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie Française for a dressing table featuring her signature bronze-crystal combination. A tailor named Boin bought the company around 1830; he in turn sold it to Pierre-Isidore Lahoche in 1840. Lahoche’s son-in-law, Émile Pannier, joined in a partnership in 1952 before Émile’s sons took over in 1885, establishing Pannier Frères. The company ceased commercial production in 1923.

Starting as early as the 1860s, there was a growing appetite for Japanese-style furniture, thanks in large part to the Japanese pavilion at the International Exposition of 1867. Henry Pannier reimagined some of the company’s designs to meet this new demand. The stylized furniture was a huge success and earned the company many awards, including the gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. Others who contributed to this stylistic trend included French artist Émile Gallé, French glassmaker and ceramicist François-Eugène Rousseau, French furniture designer Louis Majorelle and French cabinetmaker Gabriel Viardot.

Henry Pannier made a constant effort to sketch each object the company sold and record it in his notebooks. Over 50 years, he recorded 2,800 furniture designs, each with its own name, date of sale and price. On some pieces, l’Escalier de Cristal signed the models, adding a layer of authenticity and distinction for today’s collectors. 

Museums around the world have collected pieces from l’Escalier de Cristal, including the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. 

On 1stDibs, find a collection of l’Escalier de Cristal decorative objects, vases, desk accessories and more.

Best known to collectors for their magnificent Marmoriertes and Phänomen glass creations, the Loetz Glass company was a leading Art Nouveau producer of fine glass vases, bowls and other decorative objects through the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.

Shortly before his death in 1855, attorney Frank Gerstner transferred sole ownership of his glassworks company to his wife Susanne. The company, which was founded in what is now the Czech Republic in 1836 by Johann Eisner, was renamed Johann Loetz Witwe by Susanne Gerstner as a tribute to her late husband who preceded Gerstner, a glassmaker named Johann Loetz (Loetz was also known as Johann Lötz). 

For 20 years, Gerstner led the company, expanding its manufacturing and distribution capacity. It proved profitable, but the glassworks' popularity didn't start gaining significant momentum until after Gerstner transferred sole ownership to her grandson Maximilian von Spaun in 1879. 

Von Spaun and designer Eduard Prochaska developed innovative techniques and solutions for reproducing historical styles of decorative glass objects, such as the very popular marbled Marmoriertes glass — a technique that lends glass an appearance that is similar to semi-precious stones such as onyx or malachite. Under von Spaun’s leadership, the firm’s works garnered them success in Brussels, Vienna and Munich, and Johann Loetz Witwe won awards at the Paris World Exposition in 1889. In 1897 von Spaun first saw Favrile glass in Bohemia and Vienna. 

The work in Favrile glass, a type of iridescent art glass that had recently been developed and patented by Louis Comfort Tiffany, founder of iconic American multimedia decorative-arts manufactory Tiffany Studios, inspired von Spaun to explore the era’s burgeoning Art Nouveau style — or, as the firm was established in a German-speaking region, the Jugendstil style.

The company partnered with designers Hans Bolek, Franz Hofstötter and Marie Kirschner and thrived until von Spaun passed it down to his son, Maximilian Robert. 

With the Art Deco style taking shape around the world, the company was unable or unwilling to adapt to change. Loetz Glass collaborated with influential names in architecture and design, including the likes of Josef Hoffmann, a central figure in the evolution of modern design and a founder of the Vienna Secession. Unfortunately, the glassworks’ partnerships did them little good, and the company’s mounting financial problems proved difficult to navigate. Two World Wars and several major fires at the glassworks took their toll on the firm, and in 1947 the Loetz Glass Company closed its doors for good. 

Today the exquisite glass produced by Loetz Glass Company remains prized by collectors and enthusiasts alike.

On 1stDibs, find antique Loetz Glass Company glassware, decorative objects and lighting.