Ref. : 3593-10-en
French "Japonisme" (Japanesque) Tray - Centerpiece.
Baccarat
Origine
France, around 1880
H : 4 cm / 1.6 in.
L max : 43,5 cm / 17.1 in.
D max : 29 cm / 11.4 in.
Description
N° 70
French "Japonisme" (Japanesque) Tray - Centerpiece with a miror surrounded by a "bamboo" mounting in gilded bronze.
Signature
Stamped signature on the mounting under the tray.
Notes
With its 'bamboo' gilded bronze mounting this tray, which also can be used as a centerpiece, is very representative of the Japanesque ("Japonisme") creations by Baccarat of the 1880's.
Although engraved or cuted 'classical' decors were directly made at the cristal manufacture, the 'fantaisie' or the luxurious ones where made in a workshop located in Paris.
The Baccarat creations of this period are not signed directly on the cristal but they sometime still carry their fragile paper original label and can bear the stamped signature on the bronze mounting.
Only pieces from the 20th Century carry Baccarat engraved signature, first were the perfume bottles and the exceptional creations in the 1920's and then systematically the whole production (chandeliers excepted) starting on 1936 (D. Sautot).
Biography
Compagnie des Cristalleries de BACCARAT ( from1764 - to the present).
In 1764, the King Louis XV of France gave permission to found a glassworks in the town of Baccarat in the Lorraine region in eastern France to Prince Bishop Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Laval-Montmorency (1710-1802).
Production consisted of window panes, mirrors and stemware until 1816 when the first crystal oven went into operation. By that time over 3000 workers were employed at the site.
Baccarat received its first royal commission in 1823. This began a lengthy line of commissions for royalty and heads of state throughout the world.
In 1855 Baccarat won its first gold medal at the Worlds Fair in Paris.
Baccarat first began marking its work with a registered mark in 1860. The mark was a label affixed to the bottom of the work. In the period 1846-1849 Baccarat signed some of their high quality glass millefiori paperweights with the letter B and the year date in a composite cane.
The crystal production expanded its scope throughout this period, and Baccarat built a worldwide reputation for making quality stemware, chandeliers, barware, and perfume bottles.
The French Imperial Era ended in 1870. Influences outside France began to have a stronger influence on Baccarat’s work during this era, particularly imports from Japan. The world’s largest chandelier and a staircase lined with a Baccarat crystal balustrade adorn the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. Strong growth continued in Asia for Baccarat.
Baccarat has become quite famous at the royal houses, the queen of Portugal, for example, commissioned for her private collection decorative pieces and tableware (currently exhibited in the Ajuda National Palace). One of the strongest production areas for Baccarat was perfume bottles, and by 1907 production was over 4000 bottles per day. In 1936 Baccarat began marking all of its works using acid or sandblasting.
Bibliography
Revue :
De Liesville, (A.-R.), « Les Industries d'Art au Champ de Mars, IV-2 Verrerie », dans L'Art Moderne à l'Exposition de 1878, Publication de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1879, p. 434.
Books :
Cappa, (G.), Le Génie Verrier de l'Europe, Témoignages, De l'Historicisme à la Modernité (1840-1998), Sprimont-Belgique, 1998, p. 170 à 187.
Delaborde, (Y.), Le Verre, Art & Design - XIXe -XXI siècles, Paris 2001, Vol 1 p.123, 130, 136... , Vol 2, p. 24-30.
Ennès, (P.), Histoire du Verre, Au Carrefour de l'Art et de l'Industrie, Le XIXe siècle, Paris, 2006, p. 179 et 183.
Lambourne, (L.), Japonisme, Echanges culturels entre le Japon et l'Occident, Paris, 2007.
Olland, (P.), L'Art Verrier 1900, de l'Art Nouveau à l'Art Déco au travers des collections privées, Dijon, France, 2007, p. 14, fig. 1.
Sautot, (D.), Baccarat, une histoire, 1764... , Edition de Baccarat, France, 1993, p. 54-60, fig. p. 48-49.
Wichmann, (S.), Japonisme, Paris, 1982, p. 314-323.
