Glass of the Maharajahs: European Cut Glass Furnishings for Indian Royalty
Not On View
Interpretive Notes
Glass furniture became more popular and complex in the late 1800s. Factories competed to produce elaborate objects for display at world’s fairs. Baccarat first exhibited large glass furniture at the Paris exposition of 1878. Its spectacular display at that exposition was shown in a gallery called the Salon of the Thousand and One Nights. The products of this French company set the tone for design and execution of European glass for decades to come. The table was one of four made by the company in 1889. The cut glass boat was designed for Baccarat by the sculptor Charles Vital-Cornu (1851-1927) in 1900, and it was displayed with the table for the first time at the 1900 world’s fair in Paris.
Physical DescriptionColorless lead glass; blown, pressed, cut, assembled. A) Large, rectangular table, 4 legs, with stretcher; on metal frame; inset flat, rectangular cream-colored sheet of polished marble set into top; rectangular glass panels with raised molded gadrooning fastened to metal table rim; skirt with rectangular plaques molded in series of bull's-eyes; legs with ball knops with swirled heavy ribbing alternating with annulated knops, slipped over metal legs; ball feet with spiral ribbing; square molded, cut capitals; stretcher with 2 U-shaped ends and straight bar joining the U-shaped ends; ends covered with curved, hollow bars of square cross-section, with molded bull's eyes on sides, stylized foliage on top and bottom; large cut finials mounted at side and on top of cubical boxes at centers of U-shaped arms; large cut finial on top, with spiral ribbing on large ball knop at bottom, small ball knop above, ribbed ovoid top finial; disk base with cut concentric rings. B) Ship on waves, with ormolu mounts and figures; hull of ship formed as large, blown, cut ovoid form, open at top; sides elaborately cut; faceted cross-cut band below; bottom covered with field of diamond facets; prow mounted with ormolu point and rippling sides, surmounted by hippocamp with lion's head, and figure of standing nude child fluttering drapery, holding one hand up, as if shading his eyes for better vision; stern mounted with ormolu structure of elaborate scrollwork, with molded top bar; oval openings at rear; flat, elaborately-cut rudder mounted at rear; hull resting in molded and cut glass waves, with undulating, irregular tops and cut grooves on bottom. Provenance
