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Collection of glasses from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Bordeaux

A selection of 17th century glasses "Venice style" and 18th/19th century pieces


Article reference : La collection de verres du Musée des Arts décoratifs de Bordeaux : une sélection de verre du XVIIe siècle "à la façon de Venise", In : bulletin de l'AFAV, 2013, p.132-135.

During the AFAV symposium organized in Bordeaux in 2012, part of the 17th century glass collection from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Bordeaux was presented by Catherine Hébrard-Salivas and Geneviève Petit-Rapaport.







The Museum of Decorative Arts has a fine collection of glass, representative of French production in the modern era.


The stylistic and archaeological analysis of some pieces of the museum which are typical of French manufacture from the 16th to the 19th century provide an overview of this collection.



Introduction

The glass collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Bordeaux, with its 800 pieces, is representative of French glass production since the 17th century.


Two collectors in particular have contributed their bequests to its enrichment

-Georges Périé, died on January 6, 1945. Deputy mayor and general councillor, he bequeathed to the city of Bx in 1945, his very fine collection of works of art including many glasses dating from the 17th to the 19th century. -Raymond Jeanvrot (1884-1966), royalist, passionate about the history of the last Bourbons and specialist in the 19th century, especially the Restoration period. He sold part of his collection to the city of Bordeaux in 1958 and bequeathed the rest on his death in 1966, a total of 18,000 pieces including many English and 19th century glasses. Many glassmakers of Italian origin have been present in the region since the 16th century, a presence that does not erase the glassmaking activity of previous centuries. Notarial minutes from the 16th and 17th centuries attest to the presence of glassmakers in Blayais, Bazadais, Dordogne and Périgord (La Double). These glassmakers bought from Bordeaux merchants certain raw materials (soda, salicor, broken glass) and in return the latter bought them drinking glasses and bottles of all kinds designated as: "white glasses", "glass of account", glasses "written and grisonnets" and also "gobets or gobeaux" in the shape of Venice, cups "in the style of Venice", ewers, chalices, glasses "hammered crystals and planiers". This reference to Venice indicates the presence and underlines the influence of altar glassmakers in the region, following the example of other French regions.



Cup called "TAZZA" (inv. 7560)

The "tazza" is made up of a cup, a leg and a foot blown into three parisons. The large polylobed cut in the shape of a corolla with 12 waves, worked with pliers, rests on a baluster-shaped leg, blown in a mold decorated with ribs and dots or drops. The leg is joined to the foot by a disc and a solid rod. The circular foot is almost flat. (1st half of the 17th century South-West).



Verre (inv 78.3.6)



The glass is made up of a cup, a leg and a foot, blown into three parisons. The conical cut is deep and blown into a mold decorated with ribs. It rests, via an amolisse consisting of a solid glass disc, on a leg blown in a mold also decorated with ribs and dots or drops. This leg is formed by a large bulb, a bulge and a baluster placed on a disc and on a small solid rod. The foot is blown into a mold decorated with radiating ribs and streaks. (17th century South-West).


Gourd (Inv. 7554)

Advances in research have made it possible to rectify the origin of this gourd, which was initially attributed to Nevers (Nevers, called the little Murano in the 17th century and which was the main center of glassware production). the Venice way). In fact, it would come from the workshops of the Montagne Noire. Its kidney-shaped body narrows at the shoulder to form the long tubular neck flared at the edge. Two small turquoise blue glass handles, in the shape of a brace, are applied to the shoulder. The rounded base retracts into a cone at the pontil.



The body is adorned with blue-green, red and white color spots that spiral around the neck. Very old technique, known under the Roman Empire which consists, during the blowing, in rolling several times, the still soft parison on fragments of broken glasses of different colors. The shape of the spots, on the body, and their transformation into spirals on the neck clearly reflect the work of the glassmaker who first, by his breath, caused the glass to swell and thus form the body, then stretched and twisted it to form the collar (1st half of the 17th century)


Vase (inv. 7269)


Italian glassmakers also settled in Spain, here is an example of glassware from Catalonia and illustrating the artistic and commercial relationships between the Spanish and French provinces located on either side of the Pyrenees. The vase is composed of a body, a leg and a foot, blown into a parison. The biconical belly is extended by a long flared and conical neck, and ends in a short cylindrical leg in solid glass with a central bulge. The conical foot has a projection. The decoration consists of a fine net around the neck and two notched ribbons arranged on each side of the body and also covering the two handles (Spain, Catalonia, 17th century).




Glasses of the Montagne Noire?

These three glasses are on display in the 16th/17th century display cases in the museum's Green Room. Two of these objects are donations from 1911, from Edouard Evrard de Fayolle. The latter collected glasses from the region and donated these objects to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Bordeaux and to the Périgord Museum in Périgueux. These objects come from the South-West region of France but it is not known where they were made. However, it is possible to compare them with the productions of the Montagne Noire, in particular the productions of the Peyremoutou and Candesoubre workshops.




We cannot present the 17th century glasses of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Bordeaux
without mentioning the most beautiful pieces of the museum
dating of the 18th century and the 19th century.


Flacon à boule (ball flask) (inv.58.1.7789)

Evocation in the collection of another Italian, Bernard Perrot whose work and research have left their mark on French glassmaking. Altarist, he came to join his uncle Jean Castellane in Nevers in the 1650s and then moved to Orléans in 1662. He was the inventor, among other things, of the casting of glass on a table, for which he filed a patent in 1670.




This opaline glass bottle comes from Orléans and dates from the early 18th century. The bottle is made up of a ball with a stem, a vase and a foot. The spherical ball decorated with two bouquets of foliage and plumes, is extended by a tubular stem entering the vase. The vase, in the shape of a baluster with flared neck, is decorated, between two friezes of festoons, with a flaming and winged heart and scrolls of plumes and foliage.






Glasses of XVIIIe siècle

At the beginning of the 18th century, a typically French glass of modest appearance appeared which, as Savary des Bruslons says in his dictionary, makes the wine better, it is the so-called fougère or pivette or chambourin glass (glass inv.7429). Then come the glasses “in the manner of England” and “in the manner of Bohemia” (glasses: inv. 7574 and inv. 69.3.2.17). From England or perhaps for a few soufflés in Bordeaux. The glass factory installed near the ramparts of Bordeaux was created by an Irishman, Pierre Mitchell in 1723. According to archival documents, he had built an English-style oven and imported salicor from England. He made "bottles, glass crystals and other glassware except mirrors" (A.D. C 1595).


Glass (inv. 7429)

The glass is formed by a cup, a leg and a foot. The tapered cup is blown in a mold and has a decoration of honeycombs in its lower part. The slender leg, which has the shape of a small full rod, tightens under the cut. The conical foot is hemmed (1st half 18th century France).



Glass (inv. 7574)

The glass is made up of a cup, a leg and a foot, blown into three parisons. The conical cup is rounded at the base by a fondeau and decorated with two sprigs of lily of the valley engraved and arranged in a bouquet. The long cylindrical leg is adorned inside with opaque white filigrees: two thick, twisted nets intersect. The foot is flat (lead glass, late 18th century, England).



Glass (inv. 69.3.217)

The small bell-shaped cup with fondeau rests on a long cylindrical leg decorated inside with an air twist. The foot is conical. (Lead glass, mid 18th century, Norway (?) “Bohemian style”).






Glass ( inv 7528)

The large cylindrical cup is linked to the carved leg, baluster in shape and octagonal in section, by a button also cut with facets, placed between two flat discs. The leg rests, via a third flat disc, on a flat foot engraved with a decoration composed of four trees and two churches. The cup is engraved with a hunting scene: The hunter on horseback, pistol in hand, pursues with his two dogs, a doe and a deer. In the distance, a village appears with fields and a church (18th century, Bohemia).



Bottles

We must also speak of wine bottles, the manufacture of which is at the origin of many glassworks in the region: in Bordeaux that of Mr. Pierre Mitchell in 1723, a competitor Mr. Fouberg in Bourg in 1730 and his main competitor in Libourne, Sieur Vanderbrande in 1748, Sieur Latapy near Bazas in 1766 and Sieur Sansané Quai de Paludate in Bx in 1758. Frédéric de Dietrich, mayor of Strasbourg in his “Survey of underground resources in the Pyrenean region” wrote in 1786 “There are 3 glass factories in Bordeaux, each of which manufactures 400,000 bottles per year”.


Bottle (Inv. 10742)

This opaque black bottle has a spherical body with a rounded shoulder which is extended by a small conical neck whose edge is underlined by an added glass cord. The base comes in a cone when placed on the pontil, carried out in the English manner (17th century, 1st half, Bordeaux or Bourg sur Gironde).





Bottle (Inv. 107 36)


Translucent light green bottle. The frustoconical belly with a rounded shoulder is extended by a tubular neck, bordered by a glass net (cordeline) added and broken at the upper edge. The base retracts into a cone at the pontil. The body is decorated, in its upper part, with a stamp marked P.C, crowned and framed by two small felines. (1730-1735 - Bourg sur Gironde cellar of Esconges).





Bottle (Inv.8098)

Dark glass bottle. The cylindrical body with a rounded shoulder is extended by a long tubular neck, flared at the bottom and edged with a glass net added to the upper circumference. The base retracts into a cone at the pontil. A label is stuck on the body bearing the inscription "Verreries de Bourg, cave d'Esconges". Cylindrical shape created around 1735 (93 cl) by the English to facilitate the storage of bottles in boats (mid 18th century).



XIXe siècle

Glass of water, consisting of a water carafe, a carafe for orange blossom, a sugar bowl, two glasses or just one and a tray. It is a 19th century creation used to cool off at night.


Inv. 58.1.4375

White opaline lined with pink opaline, “rice paste”, blown into a mold and painted decoration (1840-1850. Lorraine Baccarat). Having belonged to the Duchess of Parma who was the daughter of the Duchess of Berry and the sister of the Duke of Bordeaux, Count of Chambord.





Inv. 58.1.9999

Crystal 1827, blown in a mold and inlay in white ceramic paste. Decor typical of the Restoration period: lorgnettes alternating with small striated rectangles and a crystal porcelain with the effigy of the Duke of Bordeaux according to the medal of Dubois in 1827 (France).


 



All these objects are visible at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design

39 rue Bouffard, 33000 Bordeaux

 

Indicative bibliography


Baumgartner 2003

Baumgarter (E.) : Venise et Façon de Venise, verres Renaissance du Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2003.


Commandré, Martin 2009

Commandré (I.), Martin (F.) : la verrerie forestière de Candesoubre, commune de Lacabarède (81), Rapport final d’opération, 2009.


de Boysson 2012

de Boysson (B.) : Hôtel de Lalande, Musée des Arts décoratifs de Bordeaux, Somogy éditions d’art, Paris, 2012.


Foy et al. 1983

Foy (D.), Averous (J.-C.), Bourel (B.) : Peyremoutou : une verrerie du XVIIe siècle dans la Montagne Noire, premiers résultats des fouilles archéologiques, Archéologie du Midi médiéval, t. 1, 1983, p. 93-1001.


Hébrard 2009

Hébrard-Salivas (C.) : L’activité verrière au XVIe siècle en Aquitaine, Société Archéologique de Bordeaux, t. C, 2009, p. 101-11 8.



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