Vase with lilies

 

In the vicinity of the western wing of the Royal Palace, 26 shards of a broken glass vessel were found. When assembled, it was revealed that the shards formed the base (bottom) and part of the walls of a vase. The vessel is made from thick, clear sodium-potassium-calcium silicate glass, with the body and ornamentation shaped using blowing into a mold, glass grinding, and deep engraving techniques.

 

The main part of the vase’s walls is decorated with four royal heraldic fleur-de-lis motifs set inside oval-shaped panels resembling shields. The lower part of the vase below the fleur-de-lis is octagonal, and the base contains a rosette resembling a flower with twelve petals swirling around its center.

 

This heraldic figure – a stylized three-petal fleur-de-lis tied with a ribbon – has been present in European heraldry since the 12th century. It was considered a symbol of royal power and military virtue. In Christianity, this symbol was associated with the Virgin Mary and symbolized devotion, purity, and chastity.

 

The vase was found in a cultural layer dated between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, among two stone pavements from that period. However, the deep glass engraving decoration suggested the vase should be dated at least 200 years later. The deep engraving technique for rock crystal was first applied to glass objects only in the early 19th century in England.

 

A detailed study of the find spot revealed that the early 17th-century pavement had a pit about 50–60 cm in diameter and 50 cm deep, likely dug to place a wooden post. The broken vase was thrown into this pit. After restoration, it was established that the vase was made in the second quarter of the 20th century. This also indicated the time when the 17th-century pavement was disturbed.

 

In the early 20th century, glass workshops operating in Vilnius and its surroundings produced only simple glassware. Artistic glassware was imported from abroad. It turned out that the vase was made in the glass workshop of Rudolf Schrötter (1887–1959) in then Czechoslovakia.

Rudolf Schrötter was a renowned glass master who started working as a glass designer in 1904 at Josef Inwald’s glass factory (Rudolfshütte, Teplice, Austria-Hungary). Over time, he became one of Czechoslovakia’s leading glass artists and is now regarded as a pioneer of Czech modern glass production. Besides many decorative vessels, Schrötter, inspired by the French Wars of Independence, created a series of vessels with fleur-de-lis ornaments in 1926–1927, including the vase described above.