glass, colourless, cylindrical body with cobalt blue casing, with cut lettering and flower branches as well as gilt decoration in the interstices, base with gilt Lobmeyr signet, height 10.2 cm, J. & L. Lobmeyr, Vienna, c. 1870 (Ru)

Lit.: Waltraud Neuwirth, Orientalisierende Gläser, J. & L. Lobmeyr, Vol. I, 1981, p. 85, see Ill. 35. Ill. with Russian decoration for the Paris world exhibition 1867;

Josef Lobmeyr came from a family of glaziers from Grieskirchen and established the company J. & L. Lobmeyr, which would gain world fame in its almost 191 years of existence, in Vienna in 1823.
Initially, they produced highest quality glasses in the style of the Biedermeier, later on they produced glass services and decorative objects.
It was the glassware producers' company policy to produce both their own designs and those from significant artists.

They began delivering to the Viennese imperial court in 1835, which products are now exhibited in the Viennese Hofburg's Hofsilber- und Tafelkammer (court chamber of silver and tableware).
The sons Josef junior and Ludwig acquired the company in 1855 and extended its range with a large selection of crystal chandeliers; Josef junior dealt in export, e.g., to the Near East, until his death in 1864 and Ludwig designed approx. 100 drinks services.
The first muslin glass service was created in 1856; these services are very popular to this day. Ludwig Lobmeyr was able to commission great designs from significant artists involved in the extension of the Vienna Ringstrasse such as Josef Storck, August Eisenmenger, Friedrich Schmidt and Theophil Hansen.
First prices for glass and lighting objects were awarded at the 1862 world fair in London and all subsequent exhibitions.
The first electrified crystal chandelier was created in 1882, there followed important commissions for the festive illumination of the Hofburg Redoute rooms and the Sacher hotel and others.
Their nephew Stephan Rath achieved a cooperation with the Viennese Jugendstil artists Oswald Haerdtl, Vally Wieselthier, L.H. Jungnickel, Lotte Fink and architect Josef Hoffmann in 1902. They received highest international praise at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925.
Hans Harald Rath took over the business in 1938; Austrian glass industry was established in Salzburg and Tyrol from 1946/47 onwards. Ground-breaking light fixtures for the Vienna Staatsoper, the Neues Theater in Luxembourg, the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
After their father's death, his sons Harald, Peter and Stefan continued the company. New works were created by contemporary artists Anton Lehmden, Matteo Thun, Monika Flood, Paul Wieser and Enzo Mari as well as the glass studio „Franzensbad“ in Baden, where 80 glass artists created glass objects. Chandeliers were successfully delivered for the Kreml, Moscow, the opera house in the Kennedy-Center, Washington D.C., and for palaces of the Saudi Arabian royal family.
Establishment of the Vienna glass museum in Kärntnerstraße in 1987.
Establishment of a Tokyo office in 1990. Large chandelier projects for concert halls in Hamamatsu and Fukuoka as well as representative rooms in Nagano.
Andreas Rath took over as director of the head office in 2000.