Glass plate and this spectacular piece is like lying on your back in a mountain forest and looking up through the trees. One never tires of the pattern. Produced by Glass Atelier Princ entirely by hand.

Glass plate elegance on a table by itself or with fruit, fascinating anywhere it catches light, perhaps on a plate stand in a window. Perfect as a serving piece. Large enough for pasta, flat enough for a fancy display of hors d'oeuvres.

Your guests are sure to ask where you found it. Just smile and say something about Prague.

Every piece in our collection is made entirely by hand, by craftsmen who trace their crystal working ancestry back for centuries, often in the same villages where they now live and work. We see them working the glass, young and old in leather aprons or shorts and running shoes, several generations side by side are reflected in the glare of the kiln

Glass plate, part of the magical process we so often watch as we visit producer kilns across the Czech Republic. Hand blown, attached to the drawn and twisted work of his leather-aproned co-worker, then checked with calipers at certain points while still molasses-consistency-hot. Set aside to cool, the checking and measuring and quality-control processes are only begun. There is no such thing as 'pretty close' in Bohemian crystal, no room for the errant bubble, the slight flaw. Take a walk behind the building and reassure yourself by the smashed glass pile. It's either perfect or it's gone. That simple.

How many places in the world do the true hand crafts continue to exist? Wood carving in Thailand, weaving in Peru and some remaining parts of Ireland and, of course, the incredible hand made carpets of Turkey and Iran. Here in the Czech Republic, our glass craftsmen join that select few and share with them a heritage that spans the centuries. Be part of it and set your table or enhance your office or home with fine crystal, the presentation gift of kings for 400 years during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Those days are gone, but the crystal remains. Give a gift with history, a choice that comes from the talent of the human hand and one that will be appreciated for its speciality, whether that gift is for a treasured friend or yourself.

A gift for yourself? Why not? Who deserves it more?

Take a moment to understand our crystal pedigree. At the end of 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, the major reputation and world recognition of Czech glass was achieved. By the end of 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, English, Irish and French lead crystal began to compete with Czech glass. Lead crystal was glass with a high content of lead and very suitable for cutting, as it was softer, heavier and attained an extremely high luster.

Czech glassmaking held its dominance through the early 20th century and until the Nazi invasion of 1938, when world markets disappeared in the smoke and ruin of World War Two. Shortly after the end of that war, Czechoslovakia slid silently behind the Iron Curtain, not to be heard from again until the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the subsequent separation from Slovakia.