Antique Emerald Decanter and Goblets Engraved and Gold Filled
Fascinating antique emerald decanter with 5 liqueur goblets. Hand-blown, hand-cut and hand-decorated with thick gold fill. The floral decor was cut into the glass by hand and then filled with gold impasto (made with real gold). It is stunningly beautiful in style and craftmanship.
Maker is unknown, but suspected to be a French Saint Louis Cristallerie early 1900s liqueur set. The decor was first cut into the glass, then inlaid with gold to the surface (the gold is not raised from the surface) which is a Saint Louis Cristallerie known decor method. It’s a reverse impasto. The Art Nouveau styling is unmistakable. Cut oval ring on the base of the foot, filled with gold, is another feature found on very old Saint Louis glass. Actual maker is unknown, unable to verify at this time.
St Louis glass used paper labels to identify their glass prior to 1925 when they began permanent marking with an acid etch. This set has no labels or markings. You can read more about Saint Louis Cristallerie at Wikipedia. The Widipedia article is in German, so you’ll have to use the translator to read it. See this Saint Louis Cristallerie set at LR Antiques. Notice the decor closeups.
The emerald glass is in perfect sparkling condition. There are no chips. The gold fill ranges from 50 to 100%. See closeup images and captions. The gold fill in the circle of engraved ovals on the base of the foot has mostly worn, but two have much remaining. The rim gold is in worn to very good condition. The entire set was hand-blown, hand-decorated and hand-finished.
The decanter was blown, engraved and filled with gold. The decanter base was made separately and applied to the vessel. The stopper is hand-formed, with a bubble inside, hand-cut and inlaid with gold. The goblet vessels were blown and applied to drawn stem and foot, carved and gold inlaid. Only five goblets have survived of what was once a set of 6.
Stunningly beautiful, historic set. A masterpiece by an early European maker for sure. Decanter is 9.5″ tall, goblets are 4.5″ tall
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