BACCARAT CRYSTAL VASE – BACCARAT VASE :
BACCARAT CRYSTAL VASE – BACCARAT VASE, Founded in 1764 in a small village in Lorraine, the Baccarat crystal glassworks, despite its long history, has consistently embodied the avant-garde. In Paris as in Nancy, the many exhibitions in which it participated were marvelous showcases for the creativity and skill of its craftsmen. It was no easy feat to dazzle, in their own stronghold, the artists and craftsmen of the Nancy School, which was at the forefront of the plant-inspired Art Nouveau easthetic.
However, at the East of France international Exhibition that opened in Nancy on 1 May 1909, Baccarat succeeded brilliantly in doing just that –despite stiff competition from the Saint Louis crystal works, the Meisenthal and Goetzbruck glassworks in moselle, as well as the Vosges and Daum glassworks. Visitors to the Baccarat stand marvelled at the « grandiose accumulation of crystals » and although it was not participating in the competition, since its director, Mr Michaut, was chairing the jury, several of Baccarat’s craftsmen received individual distinctions.
These genuine magicians of glass were capable of blowing stemware such as the so-called « Tsar service » made entirely in coloured-overlay clear crystal and decorated with spectacular diamond points and palmettes. The same glass blowers also excelled in creating the so-called « Negus » vase, a monumental vase gilded with bronze whose magnificence charmed Menelik II, the Negus of Abyssinia. Also admired were Baccarat’s neoclassical beaties such as the Medicis, an imposing vase weighing 80 kilos or the « fish-tail » vase on which the graces dance in a circle. Not to mention the indispendable Art Nouveau repertoire, which, on the vases designed by Emile Gallé as well as those of Baccarat lilies, featured water lilies, poppies and other exotic plants. (revue générale de l’exposition de Nancy)