In the years 1830 – 1832, Aslan from Râşnov built a glassworks in the Azuga River meadow, for which he brought craftsmen from Bohemia. Thus was born one of the oldest glass factories in Romania, which experienced periods of prosperity and periods of crisis, as dictated by the economic conditions of an incipient industry. The factory initially produced household glassware, white or colored, and windows. Over time, it changed several administrators, who invested in new equipment, increased the number of workers and diversified production. Thus, in 1890, the glassworks in Azuga had 3 furnaces and employed 250 workers, mostly Bohemians. Between 1900 and 1936, the factory operated as a joint-stock company, having, after 1921, Nicolae Zanne as delegated administrator and director.
The Royal House, which was among the shareholders, ordered from Azuga everyday drinking services, most of which are now preserved in the heritage of the Peleş National Museum. These are glasses for champagne, wine, cognac, liqueur, brandy, orange juice, water engraved with different numbers (of King Carol I, King Ferdinand, King Carol II, Prince Dimitrie Ghica), to which are added bowls, flasks and carafes. The pieces are made of good quality glass, with appreciable technical accuracy.
An important moment in the evolution of the Azuga glass factory was the hiring, before the First World War, as a furnace engineer of Emerico Montesi, the son of Francesco Montesi, a construction engineer of Italian origin, who settled with his family in Romania, being co-opted by Anghel Saligny in the team that built the Cernavodă bridge. Emerico, born in Vienna in 1879, attended the St. Sava High School in Bucharest, where he was a classmate of IG Duca and graduated from the “École Centrale” in Paris, a renowned engineering university, thus continuing the family tradition. His mother, an intellectual of French origin, trained him in an elevated spiritual climate, which allowed him access to the circle of Bucharest's high society. Thus, Emerico Montesi was among Valentin Bibescu's friends. In 1916, he married Nicolae Zanne's niece, Alexandrina Henriette. A lover and collector of French art, Nicolae Zanne noticed Montesi's talent as a draftsman and glassmaker, and sent him to Nancy between 1921 and 1923 to decipher the details of the technique of making layered glassware, etched with acids. In order for his name to be read correctly in French and following the philo-French fashion in Romania, "Emerico Montesi" became "Henri Montesy", with a final "y", as the pieces he created were later signed. Upon his return to the country, Montesy became the artistic director of the Azuga glass factory, a position he would hold until 1939, the year of the temporary closure of the workshops and at the same time, the year of his premature end.
In 1923, while German, Polish, Czech and Romanian craftsmen were mainly working on household glassware, beautifully decorated by chemical etching, Emerico Montesy founded a small artistic glassware workshop, where he worked on cameo pieces and in which he was in charge of the design of the vessels, Josif Lintzmeier, Rudolf Burger or Josif Vişovski were blowing them, and Franz Nosek, the son of an engraver from Moravia, noted for his special talent, was doing the chemical etching.
Between 1924 and 1926, very few vases were made, but between 1929 and 1939, production increased to approximately 600 pieces per year. Montesy and his team made ceiling lamps, candy boxes, flower vases, perfume sprayers, cups, bowls, but also trinkets: fish, frogs, lizards, made of colored glass or layered glass. The favorite colors were yellow, green, greenish yellow, ruby, purple, orange, in various shades.
The production of art glassware was not profitable, however, as the sand was brought from Czechoslovakia, the ruby red dye and colloidal gold from Germany, and the metal mounts were imported from France and Germany. The factory's stores in Azuga, Braşov and Bucharest sold very little due to the high price of the pieces. In 1937-1938, the only batch of pieces for export was produced, consisting of approximately 50 works, which went to Beirut. The luxury vessels created by Henri Montesy did not participate in any exhibitions in the country or abroad, and the most successful pieces were not sold, but given away. Adrian Maniu noted, a few years after Montesy's death, in an article published in the newspaper "Universul", the modesty of this misunderstood and wronged artist.
According to the research carried out by Ms. Magda Avram, in the Romanian museum network there is only one piece signed Montesy, owned by the National Museum of Art in Bucharest. There are also Montesy pieces in the decorative art museums in Belgrade and Cologne. A number of Montesy pieces are owned by private collectors. Auction houses in the USA and Germany periodically put Montesy pieces up for sale, along with pieces by the creators of the School of Nancy. Thus, the Austin Auction Gallery in New York sold at auction, in 2007, a Montesy piece that it described as follows: “superb vase signed Montesy, made of cameo glass, decorated with plum-colored hibiscus branches, on a light, matte background. The sale price was 680 $ US, while at the same meeting a Daum vase was also auctioned, with a starting price of 1200 $ and a Gallé, with an initial price of 750 $. In Germany, at the house of Dr. Fischer, two Montesy table lamps, dated 1925 - 1930 and estimated at a value between 1800 and 2160 euros each, were auctioned.
It is known that Queen Maria, a lover of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, purchased pieces of glassware made in these styles bearing the signatures of famous artists: Emile Gallé, Auguste and Antonin Daum, Jean Sala, Gabriel-Argy Rousseau, René Lalique, d'Argental, Josef Hoffmann, Louis-Comfort Tiffany and others. But, Queen Maria also ordered from Azuga, in the period 1930 – 1935, a drinking service, in the Art Deco style. Although the pieces are not signed, they could only have been created by Henri Montesy, who was the artistic director of the factory in those years and could not leave such an important order to another creator. The service is made of smoked glass (a color very difficult to achieve from a technical point of view), polished in wide, longitudinal or radial facets, and includes 51 pieces:
water cups, with a circular base, cut in the shape of a rosette, a bulbous, elongated body, with a handle and an icicle;
water glasses, slightly truncated, with a hexagonal base;
wine glasses, with a circular base and a short, spherical stem, with a high cup;
champagne glasses, with wide bowls;
brandy glasses;
bottles with stoppers, large, medium and small, on a circular base, with an ovoid body;
miniature mugs;
saucers for jam, on a hexagonal base, decorated with a cut rosette, with a reduced, flared body.
All these pieces are distinguished by their simple, refined and elegant lines, tending towards the abstraction of forms. In the case of the water cups and miniature mugs, the source of inspiration is obvious: similar vessels from folk art. The drinking service is on permanent display at Pelişor Castle, in the Breakfast Room.