Sep
27
17th Century French Antique Glass, Porcelain, Silver
September 27, 2009 |
France
Glassmaking was introduced into Gaul under Roman occupation and
post Roman-period glass closely resembles the greenish and yellow-
brownish objects found elsewhere. During the 12lh century, glazier
settlements were in existence in the region of Poitou and immigrant
glassmakers gathered, intermarried and created future generations of
glaciers. Analogous with Bohemia, the feudal system encouraged the
setting up of glasshouses in the forest regions, in Provence and Normandy.
By 1490 the French glassmakers had obtained the right to style them-
sel|fes gentilhommes verriers, a title applying equally to the real and
impoverished nobility turned glassmaker. Numerous Huguenot nobles
adopted glassmaking and in 1746 forty of these Gascon gentilhommes
vemers perished on the gallows for their beliefs in the principles of the
relrarmation. Rare surviving 16th-century goblets and chalices show
atjmctive enamelling and a style of design which is clearly Venetian-
influenced.
In the 1660s, one of the most able French glassmakers, Bernard Perrot
(ofrerrotto) inherited the monopoly for supplying glass in the Loire
area and the work produced at his Orleans glasshouse is both charming
anal original. A large number of mould blown beakers, flasks and scent
bottles were made in transparent and opaque white, blue and amber glass,
showing recurring motifs of hearts, fleurs-de-lys, small figures and sun
or moon faces. Perrot also produced an attractive marbled glass and in
1662 developed a process for casting; about that time he began to use
anthracite fuel for his furnaces.
it vastly different glass concept is expressed in the so-called verre file
demevers. This refers to miniature models and grotesques of religious
or comic character, made at the lamp by provincial glass enamellers
from the late 16th century onward. Nevers figurines are made from
hollow blown, very thin glass threads (verre /rise), usually wired with
copper and placed on a stand of verre file or arranged in groups. Domestic
glass was largely imported from the Lowlands, England and Bohemia
and not until 1764, when the glasshouse of Sainte-Anne at Baccarat was
established by the Bishop of Metz, was a French glass industry founded.
17th century, gold and silversmiths began to turn
to less decorative styles than they had used in the preceding century. At
firifi sight it seems logical to assume that this was the result of growing
Protestant taste following the Reformation and the polarization of
religious attitudes with the counter-Reformations of the 16th century,
buf this does not seem to have been the reason. Instead, the plainer style
was being evolved for people who were chary of spending too much
money on the fashioning of plate, over and above the cost of the material,
lest it soon would have to be melted again for cash. The Thirty Years’
War in Germany of 1618-48, the Civil War in England in the 1640s and
the Fronde in France of 1647-53 made people shrink from commission-
ing expensively decorated plate in large parts of Europe.
Only Holland, at this time triumphant in having liberated herself
from Spain - which now began to decline in power - and expanding her
empire overseas, enjoyed a confident prosperity. Throwing off the
Mannerist grotesques of the 16th century, a new Dutch style of silver-
Above: Apostle spoon, St James the
ware arose, a style of sinuous fluidity and erotic sensuousness, most
characterized by the use of various flowing marine motifs, whose chief
exponents were members of the van Vianen family of silversmiths of
Utrecht and their pupils. This molten, ‘auricular’ style, as it became
known, spread to Germany and to English court circles before the Civil
War. It was followed in Holland by an expression of the prevalent in-
terest in botanical studies in a profusion of embossed flowers, often
tulips. This style, too, was taken to England, at the restoration of Charles
II in 1660. Dutch interest in pictorial representation showed itself in
embossed and engraved plaques and dishes with a religious or classical
theme, following engravings of paintings by 17th century artists.
The middle years of the 17th century saw the introduction to Europe of
new tastes in drinking; chocolate, coffee and tea brought from overseas,
cooled white wine and hot punches all led to the invention of vessels for
their service. Ever since the first years of the century there had been in-
creasing contact with the Far East, following the establishment of
trading companies by the maritime nations of Europe. A lightening of
Baroque European taste came about, by means of pseudo-Indian,
Chinese or Japanese decoration, called chinoiserie, regardless of its exact
provenance. Chinoiserie entered all branches of the decorative arts and,
with fluctuations in popularity, remained there. Temporarily submerged
by the Neo-classical movement of the second half of the 18th century, it
was revived again, in an altered form, in the 19th century.
The second half of the 17th century saw the gradual spread of a ‘politer
way of living’. It now became the custom to use forks at every course in
a meal. Previously, two-pronged ’sucket’ forks had been used for sweet-
meats at banquets, but the rest of the meal had always been eaten with
a spoon and fingers. Changed methods of cooking and changed menus
encouraged the idea - which came from Italy - of using forks all the time
and this made ewers and basins unnecessary, although their decorative
function continued.
Snrbng lead glass was now developed, which displaced both the fragile
and highly prized Venetian goblet and the silver wine cup. Glass was
preferred because it did not affect the taste of wine, as did silver. Beer was
drunk out of tankards in northern countries and the Scandinavian
tankard mounted on three feet was popular. Plain beakers were also used
for drinking and the Dutch type of beaker was taken to New England and
used in some Non-Conformist churches as a communion cup. flagons
were used lor serving beer and wine and the pattern, like an extended
tankard without a lip, was common lor both secular and ecclesiastical
purposes.
Greater prosperity led lo a proliferation of silver objects being made
m Europe and in America, and quantities of teapots, kettles and kettle
stands, tea caddies, coffee and chocolate pots, sugar boxes ami creamers,
waters, salvers and trays were needed for the less formal and more in-
timate gatherings preferred in the early 18th century. On the dining
table would now be placed small, individual salts, casters for spices and
sugar, candlesticks, tureens and sauceboats. At the end of the 17th
century, sauces were served cold and piquant: double lipped, two-
handled sauceboats were put directly on the table. Later, sauces were
served hot and so sauceboats were raised off the table on a base or on
three feet, so that the polished surface would not be scorched.
Heavy drinking habits called for wine coolers and occasional wine
fountains. On the centre of the table would be placed an epergne, an
arrangement of branches holding assorted sweetmeats in a number of
baskets or on small trays.
The dressing tables and writing desks of the wealthy all over Europe
and America were graced with toilet sets, ink stands and tapersticks.
Silver furniture may still be seen at Rosenborg Castle and at various
places in Germany, although all the French examples have perished.
The Huguenot Silversmiths
from the 1660s and all through the lXih century the encouragement
given by French royal patronage to the arts led to French taste dominat-
ing Europe. Reference has already been made to the disappearance of
French silver of the period. In 1683. Louis XIV revoked the Edict of
Nantes, which since I 598 had guaranteed freedom of worship in fiance.
This led to a consequent exodus of Huguenot workers, chiefly from the
French provinces, into the Protestant countries of Europe, where the
extreme elegance and sober and refined monumentality of French
classical Baroque taste was assimilated.
In England, the fusion of native and Huguenot taste made this the
period of, perhaps, the country’s greatest glory in silversmithing. The
fusion of styles took nearly a generation, the two styles existing side by
side for a while. English goldsmiths carried on with their plain styles
which relied for their effect on proportion and surface quality; Hugue-
nots livened their work with their cast and engraved ornament. At the
same lime however some Huguenots adopted the simple fnglish style,
while a small group of English smiths quickly adopted and mastered
Huguenot styles. Notable among this last group were George and
Above: 17th-century table candlesticks,
top: Amsterdam 1642; bottom left: Delft
1652; bottom right: Montpelier 1695 96.
Francis Garthorne and Benjamin Pyne. Second generation Huguenots,
such as Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), were capable of producing work
of the greatest distinction and simplicity, in which the shape itself con-
stituted decoration enough. They also made pieces in silver-gilt of the
utmost elaboration, with cast and applied decoration, skilfully conceived
and modelled in the highest sculptural tradition. The beauty of English
plate at this time was further enhanced by engraving and flat chasing.
The Huguenot immigrants also widened the range of English silver,
for French eating and drinking customs at this time were somewhat
different from the English. Among others, the Huguenots introduced
the tall helmet-shaped ewer, the pilgrim bottle, the soup tureen and the
ecuelle, a Hat, covered bowl with ear-like handles.