(Thank you Mme. Fouss
for sharing this breath-taking
picture of your remarkable treasure)
Here is how Leslie described this amazing item:
This mammoth armorial-lidded jar (Wappenpokal)
dates from the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in
This fine pokal is signed in black enamel
on the base with "F.F. Fachschule Steinschönau" - the Steinschönau craftschool mark.
Above this signature is a monogrammed "M", the mark of the designer, and below it the initials "J.E"- those
of the painter. The identity of
"M" is not clear, and the monogram does not appear in the Dictionary
of Glass Marks by C. Hartmann. The only other example of this piece that I
have seen is in my own collection, of identical form but without a lid, its
scrolling enameled in green. It is
signed with the same "M" logo, though with a different painter's
initials. Hugo Max was a major Fachschule designer around this time, and he could be a
candidate, though he is best known for his later Jugendstil
(Austro-Bohemian form of Art Nouveau) designs.
Alas, the identities of many designers and most of the expert enamellers
of this period are now lost to history.