Baccarat: Pair Of Large Opaline Vases With Floral Decoration, By Jean-françois Robert

Jean-François Robert (1778-1855) for the CRISTALLERIE DE BACCARAT
Pair of high quality milky white opaline vases. They feature a flared collar with a wavy lip highlighted by a double helical cord tinted copper red (or fuchsia pink) in relief. The cylindrical body is decorated on each side with an opulent bouquet of naturalistic flowers (tulips, roses, daffodils, poppies, morning glories) painted with fine polychrome enamels. The collars are enhanced with throws of flowering branches. Fine burnished gold threads with a shiny effect on the shoulder and pedestal.
France. Louis-Philippe period / Beginning of the Second Empire (19th century).
Height: 33 cm
Very good condition.
Origin:
Important European collection.
Literature:
Similar models are reproduced in the works of Yolande Amick and Christine Vincendeau.
Artist:
Jean François Robert (1778 – 1870)
Landscape painter at the Royal Manufacture of Sèvres, born in Chantilly in 1778. At fourteen, he won first prize at the free school of Chantilly, founded by the Prince of Condé. Shortly after, he became a student at the city’s porcelain factory. On his return from the army in 1807, he was admitted both to the school of M. de Marne and to the Sèvres factory. There, he followed the Emperor’s hunts and executed them on porcelain.
In 1812, he exhibited several works at the M.R., which were purchased by the Empress Marie-Louise and the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, who hired him as a landscape painter.
Robert received a medal at this exhibition. Shortly after, he left for Florence, where he created new works for the Grand Duchess. In 1814 he returned to France and exhibited
A view of Saint-Cloud, taken from the mound of M. Pujeol
. In 1819 he worked for various important patrons of his time, including Élisa Bacciocchi, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and sister of Napoleon, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Berry.
His work on glass was also remarkable: in 1837/1838 he patented a new technique of painting with color and gold on the surface of glass. At this time, he left the porcelain factory and founded his own workshop in Sèvres to devote himself to the decoration of vases and stained glass windows. He was the main decorator of opaline glass of this type. His talent was such that all the major glass manufacturers, notably Baccarat and Saint Louis, placed orders with him.
He retired in 1855 at the age of 73.
Major museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum or the Corning Museum of Glass have similar pieces attributed to Jean-François Robert in their collections.