Paperweight
c. 1845–60
Medium
Glass
Dimensions
Diam.: 7.3 cm (2 7/8 in.)
Classification
paperweight
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
188205
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This paperweight uses a traditional glass-making technique called millefiori to great effect. Italian for “one thousand flowers,” millefiori was first developed in fifteenth-century Venice. In the nineteenth century, French glassmakers revived the technique with a cultural twist. Arranged to evoke traditional French gardens such as the Tuileries in Paris, paperweights like this example brought a little of this landscaping magic indoors. From the late 1840s to early 1860s, French manufacturers o...
About the Artist
Baccarat Glassworks
Baccarat Glassworks, founded in 1764 in the Lorraine village of Baccarat, France, emerged from a royal decree by King Louis XV granting Bishop Monseigneur de Montmorency-Laval permission to establish a glass factory. Leveraging abundant local driftwood from the Vosges forest and skilled craftsmen, the works initially produced soda glass for windows, mirrors, and everyday stemware, employing thousa...