Artist / Maker / Factory
BACCARAT (worked from 1764)
Medium / Material
Cut-Glass
Dimensions
106.00cm high
( 41.73 inches high)
Diameter
102.00cm
(
40.16 inches in diameter)
Description
A Fine Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze and Cut-Crystal Twenty-Four-Light Chandelier by La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat. This fine gilt-bronze chandelier has a leaf cast corona hung with pendants and drops, with four rope twist supports holding a central guilloche pierced band. The band has four gilt-bronze putti each supporting foliate cast spirally fluted branches, with urn shaped gadrooned and fluted nozzles and drip pans. The chandelier is hung overall with pendant swags and pear shaped drops and terminates in a faceted ball terminal.
The design for this unusual and sophisticated chandelier with gilt-bronze putti to the central band is illustrated in Baccarat's Tarif des Articles d'Eclairace, from the turn of the century, as Lustre Série E.193. A further variation with bronze arms and glass shades is illustrated as Série E.460.
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 crystal works in 1828, however, that had the most significant repercussions for the company. The crystal works 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 Tuilleries, while the Duchess d'Angoulême personally chose a set of eighteen glasses, described by her as '..sturdy, balanced, perfect'. Later Louis-Philippe and Napoleon II 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.
Literature
Jean-Louis Curtis, 'Baccarat', Thames and Hudson 1992.
Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat: ‘Tarif des Articles d’Eclairace’, Paris, Edition 1903-4. ‘Lustre Série E.193’, p. 37; ‘Série E.460’, p.44.
D. Battie and S. Cottle, 'Encyclopedia of Glass', Conran Octopus, 1997.
