An almost identical flask is in the MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna (Inv. GL 2573)

The inscriptions translate as 'The realm belongs to God, the One and Eternal, the Truthful', 'Oh thou, who passest this clear water, drink.'

Originally established in Bohemia in 1822/23, the glasshouse of Josef Lobmeyr (1792-1855) produced glass of a high standard in the second quarter of the 19th century but also sold the products of different manufacturers. The firm was later entitled  J.& L.Lobmeyr and was run principally from 1855 by his two sons Josef and Ludwig. By this time they no longer operated their own glassworks but commissioned glass to their own designs from Haida and elsewhere in Bohemia.

The first major exhibition in which Lobmeyr participated was that of  London in 1862. Here they were awarded a gold medal "for excellence in the making of crystal glass, tableware, and candelabra". Ludwig Lobmeyr, who took over the firm after the premature death of his brother Joseph, contacted Rudolf von Eitelberger, the founder of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, during the period of the exhibition. The two men's objective was the promotion of good taste in design. Ludwig Lobmeyr used the museum's exhibits as inspirational models for his glassware and regularly exhibited his new creations at the museum and at the World Fairs.

Supplied by manufacturers of glass in Bohemia both for home consumption and export, Lobmeyr became one of the leading glass sellers of the second half of the 19th century and their new glass took the exhibitions by storm. At the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 Lobmeyr was singled out for the highest praise.

The architects Johann Machytka and Franz Schmoranz (1845-1892) travelled extensively in Palestine. For Lobmeyr, they designed a considerable number of vessels in 'Arabian style' between 1876 and 1878, drawing their inspiration from original pieces in museums in Cairo and elsewhere. These new designs were much sought after when they were displayed in Paris in the 1878 Exposition. Lobmeyr continued to exhibit at all the major international fairs in the last quarter of the 19th century.

The present lot is based on an extremely rare 13th century Egyptian or Syrian Mamluk form, an example of which was mentioned by G. Schmoranz in his publication Old Oriental gilt and enamelled glass vessels, 1899, p.33. See the example from the Collection of the Late Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, sold Christie's London, 14th December 2000, lot 48 and that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Inv. 328-1900). Gustav Scmoranz's drawings in the 1870s provided the designs for several of the Islamic styles introduced by Lobmeyr. See W.Neuwirth, Orientalisierende Gläser, 1981, p.51, pl.18