Phasianus colchicus – in scientific taxonomy, the pheasant was named after the river Phasis (today’s Rioni in western Georgia), which flowed through the legendary region of Colchis. That is precisely where the Greek hero Jason and the Argonauts sailed in search of the Golden Fleece. According to legend, they brought the pheasant back with them on their return journey to Greece—and from there, the bird gradually spread throughout Europe. It is unlikely that Jason, the Argonauts, or even the Golden Fleece had anything to do with it, but it is certain that the ancient Greeks and Romans already kept pheasants for hunting, as the bird—native to China—was considered a delicacy by them. Today, every European is familiar with the pheasant: the male, in particular, is simply unmistakable as he strides majestically across fields and meadows with his brightly colored head plumage, his bronze-to-copper-red shimmering feathers, and his magnificently long tail feathers.

All these characteristics are also captured in our hand-blown pheasant figurine—and the tail feather is a real pheasant feather. The advantage of this Lauscha glass ornament: unlike its natural counterpart, it won’t suddenly flutter out of your Christmas decorations with a loud cry, much to your horror. Instead, it will calmly and serenely take its assigned place, bobbing peacefully on its metal spring and adding another decorative splash of color to the glow of your festive arrangements.

The Lauscha glassblowers used to call the figurative glass ornaments, which were blown into two-part negative molds "before the lamp". Today, as then, the lamp is the gas burner, whose flame keeps the glass viscous and malleable. And the molds that are used are also the same as 100 or 150 years ago. They are usually made of ceramic and must be handled with care, because in order to preserve them - and not overheat them in use - the molds must be gently cooled down again at regular intervals. Thus, no more than 150 figures or ornaments can be blown in one go. Only the starting material is different than in the past, because instead of glass tubes drawn specifically for this purpose are now used prefabricated flasks of colorless soda-lime glass.

Animal figures and especially birds as allegories of human characteristics traditionally found their place on the Christmas tree. According to the narrative, it should be symbolically at least one male and one female bird that meet. Quite handily, however, the compact bird body is simply very well suited to being blown into molds. To one side of the glass bulb, the fine bird's beak can then be freely extended, and to the other, the tail feather can be attached. This almost always consisted of cut glass silk, only in the 20th century real bird feathers became fashionable.

Certain manufacturing steps are carried out by hand. Slight dimensional and color deviations may therefore occur.