Style Napoleon III / Ref.13310

CRISTALLERIE DE BACCARAT (attr. to), Blue crystal overlay liquor cellar mounted in silvered bronze, late 19th century

This crystal blue overlay liquor cellar mounted in silvered bronze was very likely made by the crystal-glass making manufactory Baccarat in the late 19th century.
Its setting in blue crystal supported by a beautiful silvered bronze mount contained three bottles and a series of small liquor glasses in frosted glass and finely decorated with small floral motifs.

Reflect of the eclecticism dear to the 19th century, the decoration and motif of this object are taken from both the Napoleon III and Louis XV styles. Indeed, the very fine and elaborated bronze mount, takes the code of the Rococo style through a scroll decoration inhabited with shells and small flowers. We also find references to the object function by the presence of vines on the foot and inside decoration.
This harmony of some decoration elements with the object function is quite recurrent in the decorative arts and especially in the liquor cellar decoration during the 19th century. Finally, the crystal sides of our liquor cellar was made according the overlay technical, meaning that the white crystal was covered by a colored crystal which once it was cut let appear the white crystal, thus creating transparent effects, specialty of Baccarat around the 1900's. The abundance of the decoration, the richness of the material and the importance given to the detal, typical of the Napoleon III style, make our liquor cellar a sumptuous object that could only be made by one of the most important crystal-glass maker.

Created under Louis XV’s reign, the crystal-glass making factory got its international fame through its participation, all along the 19th century, and until 1937, to the World’s Fairs. It is during this period that the manufacture showed the world the excellency of its production and its constant search for innovations, winning medals at every edition. The Baccarat realizations inspired other European glass or crystal manufactures during the following decades, and dictated the taste, the technical execution and the stylistic models. The works of the manufacture are scarcely signed between 1764 and 1860, year where the first labels did appear punctually. Fifteen years later, a seal with the name of the firm is placed on some blowing models and gilded bronze pieces. It is not until 1936 that the « BACCARAT » brand, with a carafe and two glasses, started appearing systematically on every production.