Clichy paperweight

The Clichy glassworks was a French glass factory that was active in the 19th century. It was founded in 1837 in the town of Clichy, a suburb of Paris, by a group of Belgian glassmakers. The factory quickly gained a reputation for producing high-quality glassware and was known for its intricate and detailed designs.

During the mid-19th century, the Clichy glassworks was one of the most important glass factories in France, and its glassware was highly sought after by collectors and art connoisseurs. The factory's glassworkers were skilled in a variety of techniques, including engraving, acid-etching, more... and the use of multi-colored enamels.

Clichy glassware was particularly known for its use of bright and vibrant colors, as well as its use of a type of glass called "pate-de-verre," which is made by mixing glass powders with a binder and then molding the mixture into the desired shape. This technique allowed for the creation of highly detailed and delicate designs.

The Clichy glassworks closed in 1885 when it merged with the Cristallerie de Sevre.

Paperweights, used to hold down papers, and most commonly made in glass, evolved in Venice in the early nineteenth century, and spread to France via Bohemia about 1845, where the finest examples were produced by three factories: Baccarat, Clichy and St Louis. Examples from these manufacturers are mostly unmarked and widely faked and imitated and thus a minefield for the uninitiated. The most popular motif is millefiori ('thousand flowers'), though fruit, single flowers, insects, and other small objects are often used as well as portraits and view. The cheaper paperweights use air bubbles as decoration. The classic paperweights are round more... and domed, but lesser weights were also made in the form of pyramids and rectangles. The early period of paperweights is reckoned to have ended in 1870 but some 20th century manufacturers such as Lalique, Kosta Boda, Whitefriars and Caithness Glass have produced some fine examples. The great majority of paper weights are unmarked, and glass rarely shows its age.

Paperweights are also made in gold, silver, silver plate, hardstone, amber, ceramic, ivory, timber and other materials. less...