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F. BARBEDIENNE - Small bronze inkwell with a cloisonne decor

This small bronze inkwell with cloisonne enamel decoration made circa 1860 is the work of Ferdinand Barbedienne, bronze maker and founder of the famous 19th century foundry of the same name. The decor seems to have been imagined by the designer Constant Sevin. We owe to the associations of the two men – which has lasted for more than thirty years, between 1855 and 1888 – an important collection of works of art and especially vases, showing the same colors and technical. The two men articipate to the reborn of champleve enamel in the middle of the 19th century. he first technical tries of Barbedienne were made near 1858 and four years after he presents in the Great Exhibition of London a stand mainly composed of works of art inlaid of enamels – like the model of our inkwell – which does not leave the critic indifferent. Indeed, we can on its shape and decor a Middle East inspiration but especially eclectic, typical of the artistic trend under the Second Empire.

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BACCARAT crystalworks, La Vague Inkwell, 1909

The crystal factory designed this inkwell in molded and reworked crystal decorated with gilded bronze elements, testimony to the alliance between glass work and that of bronze workers specializing in decorative art. The crystal takes the form of a hollowed wave, at the top of which rests a gilded bronze mermaid; her wavy hair highlights the nudity of her body, in a languid and sensual pose. Founded under Louis XV, the French crystal factory Baccarat demonstrated its excellence and creativity at Universal Exhibitions throughout the 19th century. The two ink reservoirs are fully in keeping with the maritime theme: they take the shape of a shell and a fishing basket, surrounded by swirling seaweed. This masterpiece of Art Nouveau was exhibited during the International Exhibition of Eastern France, in Nancy, in 1909. It testifies to the influence of Japanese arts on Western artists, notably La Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai. The “La Source” inkwell, created by Paul Aubé in 1898, served as a source of inspiration for “La Vague”, eleven years later. The latter is more significant of the influence of Far Eastern arts.

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Friedrich EGERMANN, Lithyalin glass vase (between 1832 and 1864)

This vase, with its translucent red appearance and fluorescent green base, features ten facets along a small body and a long neck—a shape typical of the Biedermeier style. Biedermeier was an artistic movement that emerged in Germany and Austria around 1814 and gradually faded by 1848. It reflected a new bourgeois lifestyle and way of thinking in Central Europe during the first half of the 19th century. Everything suggests that this vase was indeed produced by Friedrich Egermann: from its distinctive shape to its so-called “lithyalin” decoration. It was this very technique, invented by the glassmaker himself, that brought him fame. Bohemian glass regained popularity shortly after Napoleon’s fall, particularly due to the development of new coloring techniques. Between 1830 and 1844, Franz Xaver Riedel (1786–1844), a fifth-generation glassmaker from the Riedel family, developed a type of glass known as uranium glass, or “Uranium glass,” which he also called “Annagrün” in honor of his daughter. This glass contains a small amount of uranium, which gives it a fluorescent green hue. The proportion of uranium in such objects generally ranges from 0.1 to 2% of the object’s total weight. Inspired by this invention, Friedrich Egermann (1777–1864) combined it with the cementation technique he had himself developed. This process involves layering the glass with metallic oxides that alter its surface color. Egermann first discovered silver cementation (1816), which gives a yellow tint to the piece, and later, in 1832, developed copper cementation, which produces a translucent red. This glass, which Egermann called “lithyalin,” brought him wealth and renown, as it rivaled objects made of semi-precious stones. The Czech glassmaker remained the only one capable of producing lithyalin until 1840, when his workshop was burgled and his formulas were stolen and sold, even reaching France. Similar productions quickly emerged at the Saint-Louis glassworks and later at Baccarat around 1860. This vase is a precise testament to the combination of Riedel’s uranium glass and Egermann’s cementation. The color hidden within this creation is what gives it its enigmatic allure. To reveal its spectacular effect, the piece must be placed under ultraviolet light.