Peasant Silver

Exhibit of the Month 12 / 2021

Silvered Glass - so-called "peasant silver"

A showcase of glass silvered items from the collections of the Most Museum.

The so-called "peasant silver" was found in ordinary households in the second half of the 19th century, where it replaced luxurious silver tableware. It included candlesticks, small cups, vases, crosses, bowls, and figurines.

This glass is interesting for its technology. The history of the development and production of silvered glass began in the British Isles in the 1840s, where this technology was patented in 1849 (F. H. Thomson, E. Vanish). It spread to Europe in the mid-1850s. In the Czech lands, production developed from the 1860s, primarily in northern Bohemia, Šumava, and the Jihlava region. The production reached its peak in the 1880s. By the end of the 19th century, interest in utilitarian silvered glass declined. Silvering of glass was used at the beginning of the 20th century for the production of thermoses and reflectors.

Many merchants and glassmakers contributed to its spread and production; we can mention Wilhelm Hofmann, a Prague glass merchant and owner of glass refining factories in Prague and northern Bohemia, and the owner of the glass refining factory Adalbert Scheinost from Nový Bor.

This is a decorative technique of reduction silvering, invented for creating the reflective layer of mirrors, which later began to be used for refining hollow glass. The glass was blown into special molds to create an object with hollow walls. This space was silvered with a silver solution that was poured through a small opening into the inner space. The solution spread over the entire inner surface, and the excess was poured out. After drying, the opening was sealed to prevent damage to the sensitive silver layer. The seals are glass plates glued or lead.

text: Dagmar Pícová