Magnificent St Louis Opaline Vase In Classic Urn Shape With Hand Applied Snake

SAINT LOUIS MAGNIFICENT WHITE OPALINE VASE WITH APPLIED TURQUOISE GLASS SNAKE. Magnificent and in mint condition.

Antique opaline vase hand blown and then a turquoise snake applied by hand while the glass was molten hot. This piece demonstrates the excellent workmanship only associated with the Saint Louis crystallerie. Signed in gold on the bottom SAINT LOUIS. This would make a great gift or something to add to a collectors display or a major focal point for a vitrine.

The Saint Louis works have been established in this forest valley for four centuries: they date back to 1586, when the original glass works were built. They then become the Saint Louis Royal Glass works in 1767, and Campagnie des Cristalleries de Saint Louis in 1819.

In 1781 the formula for producing crystal glass, which until then had been the monopoly of England, was discovered at Saint Louis. It was here, therefoe, that crystal was first manufactured in France. As from this period the Saint Louis glassworks made crystal table services and were given many and varied awards. In the year VI of the French Revolutionary Calendar a gold medal was received. Its renown began to spread in 1840.

A service of 850 pieces was delivered to the Emperor of Brazil and an even more magnificent service to the Empress. Following this, its products began to be exported to the ends of the world. In 1864 the crystal works company of Saint Louis succeeded to deliver the Glass and Crystal Industry from its dependance on wood by adopting coal and open vessels. Formely, all glass work ovens were wood heated.

This explains why the Industry was centred in thickly forested regions. The items of all kinds that make up the Company s magnificient collection, housed in its private museums, reflect the changing tastes of each era.

The period 1815 to 1830, the first year of French crystal, illustrate the attraction of colour and the tastes for small bibelots finely worked in opaline or filigree. Later during the Second Empire, heavy and massive sevices, richly worked in diamond are predominant.

Tha glasses widen out and become harmoniously balanced. Today a section of the clientele remains faithful to the stately services cut in diamonds points, but apart from its traditional style collection, Saint Louis offerscontemporary services - some very delicate and some very heavy and cut with wide and deep bevels. Exquisitely luxurious table services were ordered by a refined clientele and in the Company s Paris exhibition halls the models can be viewed of the services used on the tanles of such persons as His Majesty the King of Etiopia, His Highness the Agan Khan, Her Highness the Princess of Monaco, French Ambassadors abroad, Monsieur Sacha Guitry, etc. These are services inlaid with gold or sumptuously cut - such as THISTLE, TRIANON. Some of these services are more than a hundred years old: TRIANON for instance, dates from 1830.

A series of more modern and more reasonably priced table services exist. Apart from table services, Saint Louis devotes a section of its production to a number of fancy articles: vase, bowls, and decorative pieces. There is also a chandelier and lamp department. Having thus faithfully met the tastes of a number of generations, the Saint Louis crystal works, whilst preserving the prestige of the past for all to see, are resolutely orientating their activities to the future. This item is in the category "Pottery & Glass\Cookware, Dinnerware & Serveware\Plates".

The seller is "looneyluneville" and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped worldwide.

Style: FRENCH
Original/Reproduction: ANTIQUE CRYSTAL
Features: Signed
Type: VASE CLASSIC URN SHAPE
Color: OPALINE PAINTED WHITE
Glassmaking Technique: Hand Blown Opaline
Type of Glass: OPALINE CRYSTAL
Subject/Theme: OPALINE WITH APPLIED BLUE GLASS SNAKE
Brand: Saint-Louis
Material: Glass
Production Style: Art Glass
Country/Region of Manufacture: France