Victorian Mercury Glass Vases, Hand-Painted Enamel — Lot of 2 

Two antique Bohemian silvered glass vases, circa 1870–1900, each hand-decorated with polychrome enamel on a double-walled blown glass body. The taller piece presents in a distinctive hourglass-and-bulb profile with a pale blue-silver ground and a naturalistic botanical spray — coral and pink blossoms, green and brown leaves rendered in a loose painterly hand, with white enamel banding at the base. The shorter piece takes a classical urn form on a stepped pedestal foot, its champagne-silver ground ornamented with raised gilt scrollwork, neoclassical cartouche framing, and a suspended garland of small polychrome enamel flowers; the gold-washed interior is a recognized hallmark of Bohemian production.

Produced during the height of Victorian silvered glass export from Bohemia's Nový Bor region, these vases represent the era's cottage-industry decorating tradition — factory-blown blanks finished by hand in small studios. Known in period circles as "poor man's silver," Bohemian silvered glass earned international acclaim at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition and remained a staple of middle-class Victorian interiors for decades. Both pieces are unmarked, consistent with the vast majority of Bohemian examples. Sold as a complementary lot of two.

CONDITION
Good. Enamel decoration on both vases is intact with no chips or lifting to the painted surfaces. Minor finish loss to the interior silvering is present on each piece, consistent with age-related seal oxidation, and more pronounced on the urn-form vase. No remarkable damage to either.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Large (hourglass vase): 10½" H × 4½" Diameter
• Small (urn-form vase): 9" H × 3½" Diameter
• Construction: Double-walled blown glass, silvered interior
• Decoration: Hand-painted polychrome enamel; raised gilt scrollwork on urn form
• Origin: Bohemia, circa 1870–1900
• Sold as a lot of 2
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale