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PURCHASE
THE CATALOGUE
Part I: Antique Paperweights & Related Objects
"The paperweight form is one of nearly perfect circularity
that contains the most complex of designs yet translates the
simplest of designs into infinity… these crystal balls contain
both the questions and the answers. In their wonderful size relationship
to the human hand, their heavy shape and shaped weight, their
brilliance yet delicacy, glass paperweights of the classic period
are truly the crown jewels of collecting." --Paul Hollister
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to enlarge
 Lot 1
Antique Saint Louis marbrie paperweight, with a central
cluster of complex millefiori, surrounded by a pattern of four
sections of spaced turquoise blue loops, on an opaque white surface.
This very rare type of weight was made almost exclusively by
Saint Louis and not many are known. The term marbrie is derived
from the French word for marble. It was most likely chosen to
describe the effect the glass artisans achieved with this design.
The festooned marbrie design is believed to have been derived
from an Old English decorative practice of displaying what were
known as witch balls. Witch balls were hollow, blown, glass balls
hung by the superstitious in their doorways to ward off evil
spirits. See Antique Glass Paperweights from France, plate 9,
ill. 73. Also see Glass Paperweights in The Art Institute of
Chicago, p. 35; Glass Paperweights of The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum,
plate 34, ill. 467; Glass Paperweights of the New York Historical
Society, plate 16, ill. center left and bottom right.
Diameter 2 13/16". $7000-10,000 |
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to enlarge
Click
here for a close-up detail
 Lot 2
Antique Clichy bouquet paperweight, with five millefiori-centered
lampwork flowers, including a white double clematis, a pink double
clematis, three small blue flowers, buds, dark green leaves,
and stems, which are tied with a pink ribbon, over clear ground.
(Minor chips). Clichy produced far fewer bouquets than their
competitors. This exceptional design makes the most of blending
millefiori (the stamen), crimped glass (the leaves), and lampwork
(the pleated petals) in an orchestrated arrangement of flowers.
A variety of these rare bouquets were gathered for the famous
1978 exhibition at The Corning Museum of Glass. For illustrations
of Clichy bouquets from the exhibition, see Paperweights: Flowers
which clothe the meadows, p. 77, ills. 141, 144, 148-50.
Diameter 3 1/16". $12,000-18,000 |
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