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A Twenty-Four Light Crystal Glass Chandelier
£65,000
A Twenty-Four Light Crystal Glass Chandelier, By La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat. The trumpet-shaped corona issuing cane-shaped branches...
Dimensions
Height: 110 cm (44 in)Diameter: 110 cm (44 in)
Weight: 70 kg
PrintDescription
A Twenty-Four Light Crystal Glass Chandelier, By La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat.
The trumpet-shaped corona issuing cane-shaped branches hung with tulip bells. Above a hobnail cut upper stem and pendant hung canopy. Issuing S-scrolled branches interspersed with upward curved branches all with etched glass storm shades. Variously hung with prism and pendant chains.
Signed in the relief on the mould ‘BACCARAT’ and variously etched marked.
The definitive Baccarat chandelier, this model is recorded in the ‘Tarifs des Articles d’Eclairage’, Edition 1903-1904, for the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, as ‘Série E. 185’. The storm shades, etched with scrolled acanthus decoration, were sold separately. Baccarat retails this model as ‘Zenith chandelier 24 lights’. Described as “the iconic chandelier par excellence, the Zenith collection showcases the meticulous finery of Baccarat’s craftsmanship”.
Tarifs des Articles d’Eclairage’, Edition 1903-1904, for the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, ‘Série E. 185’
France, 20th Century.
Date
20th Century
Origin
France
Medium
Engraved and Cut-Glass
Signature
Signed in the relief on the mould 'BACCARAT' and etched marked.
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.
Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, ‘Tarifs des Articles d’Eclairage’, Maison de Vente, 30 bis Rue de Paradis. Edition 1903-1904. Pages 9 (the shades) and 29 (related model of chandelier).
