Baccarat
A Pair of Magnificent Charles X Eighteen-Light Gilt-Bronze, Cut and Engraved Glass Chandeliers
£150,000
A Pair of Magnificent Charles X Eighteen-Light Gilt-Bronze, Cut and Engraved Glass Chandeliers. Attributed to La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat. Each...
Dimensions
Height: 118 cm (47 in)Diameter: 90 cm (36 in)
Weight: 30 kg
Description
A Pair of Magnificent Charles X Eighteen-Light Gilt-Bronze, Cut and Engraved Glass Chandeliers.
Attributed to La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat.
Each with cylindrical central cut-glass sectional stem holding three concentric dished platforms with diamond and guilloche pattern cutting of the finest cut lead crystal, and hung with prism pendent drops. The whole giving a weightless effect like a fountain of cascading water, the top corona platform issuing baluster chain sections joining the gilt-bronze wheel which is relief cast with stiff-leaf and neo-gothic trefoil ornament, issuing glass nozzles holding ‘S’-shaped branches with conforming scones and drip-pans, above diminishing concentric circles of prism drops culminating in a cut-glass ball.
France, Circa 1830.
Date
Vers 1830
Origine
France
Moyen
Engraved and Cut-Glass
Baccarat is the world’s leading manufacturer of crystalware. Founded in 1764 under the patronage of Louis XV as Renault et Compagnie, the firm became known as the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat during the nineteenth Century.
The company began to flourish at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, as the effects of the Napoleonic Wars abated, and its reputation was consolidated by the official approval from various sovereigns and heads of state. At the 1823 Exposition Nationale in Paris, it was Baccarat’s crystalware that Louis XVIII was said to have particularly admired, appreciating its ‘beautiful workmanship’.
It was Charles X’s visit to the crystalworks in 1828 however that had the most significant repercussions for the company. Baccarat presented the monarch with a gift of two magnificent Medici Vases, a large crystal Ewer, a fifteen piece Tea Service and a five-piece Water Set. The king then ordered a dinner service for the Tuileries, while the Duchess d’Angoulême personally chose a set of eighteen glasses, described by her as ‘..sturdy, balanced, perfect’. Later Louis-Philippe and Napoléon III also visited the crystalworks and were followed by a succession of French presidents and foreign heads of state.
François-Eugène de Fontenay (who joined the company in 1841) discovered that by the addition of the nickel oxide in the manufacturing process, a perfectly clear product, ‘crystal glass’, free of discolouration and imitating precious rock crystal was produced. This is just one of many technical innovations and improvements discovered by Baccarat, that make it the company it is today.
The Baccarat company was awarded a Gold medal at the French Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie in 1855 and has continued to carry off the top prizes ever since. In 1867 they exhibited a gigantic fountain twenty four feet tall, with a basin ten feet in diameter, which it was said ‘simply took visitors breath away’.
With the continuing improvement in their manufacturing standards, the quality of Baccarat’s ‘crystal glass’ improved and reached the highest level by the end of the century, competing successfully with the Bohemian glass industry. Baccarat ‘crystal glass’ is highly regarded, not only for its unusual clarity, but also for its great solidity and weight.
Bibliography:
‘La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, Tarif des Articles d’Eclairage’, (Paris), Edition 1903-4.
Curtis, Jean-Louis. Baccarat, Thames and Hudson, (London), 1992.
Meyer, Jonathan. Great Exhibitions: London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, 1851-1900, Antique Collector’s Club, (Woodbridge, UK), 2006; p.263.