Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou

Transcript

The journey from jewels, singular individually-made artefacts, to mass-produced costume jewellery was by no means a straightforward one. As early as the Middle Ages, the country was mass producing multicoloured rosary beads called “paters”. In the early 18th century, following the Venetian example, the glassmakers of Turnov succeeded in smelting the first composite glass suitable for the production of imitation precious stones. By the end of the century, the production of glass costume jewellery moved to the area of Jablonec, where costume jewellery was soon made even from ordinary soda potash glass. The region provided ideal conditions for the expansion of industry and of various trade crafts, including the production of costume jewellery – accessible raw materials and energy, cheap labour and the proximity of trade routes. The 19th century saw the growing significance of metal costume jewellery. The Jizera Mountains were soon called an “open-air factory“. The map shows the breakdown of costume jewellery manufacturing in the Jizera Mountains and the nearby lower slopes of the Giant Mountains. The chief semi-finished materials for the manufacture of glass costume jewellery are rods, sticks and tubes of various diameters, made by drawing from high-lead, flint, low-lead and lead-free glass. Presser rods, the main semi-finished materials for the Jablonec industry, are used in the production of full beads, buttons and costume jewellery stones. Sticks are required for the manual production of beads and other glassware coiled over a burner. Special stones for costume jewellery are also made from sticks. In addition, sticks are used to decorate costume jewellery. Hollow beads are blown from tubes, while tiny beads are chiselled from them. On view is a small example from the colour card of these semi-finished materials. The incredibly rich range of colours of the Jablonec costume jewellery is world-famous to this day.