Object Description
Pair of silvered and gilt-bronze mounted glass vases by Baccarat
French, 19th Century
Height 20cm, width 13cm, depth 11cm
Mounted with silvered bronze and ormolu, these beautiful glass vases were made by the leading French firm Baccarat, taking stylistic inspiration from Japanese art and objects. With international fame and the recognition of important awards at multiple universal exhibitions, the Baccarat firm gained an outstanding and distinguished reputation across the world for their beautiful quality of glasswork, and their pieces remain greatly celebrated and highly prized today, as demonstrated by their prominence in museums, collections and exhibitions.
These fine pieces feature decoration primarily in the form of two pairs of birds which are golden when viewed from the outside, with light etching to suggest form and volume, and silhouetted when viewed through the glass from the other side. This manner of decoration, where the far side appears almost like a shadow of the side closest to the viewer, combined with the beautiful silvery colourisation to the glass makes them particularly eye-catching works, demonstrative of the artistic quality and skill of Baccarat designers and makers.