St. Louis or Clichy Paperweight
date: label: date made
content: mid 1800s
name: label: maker
content: St. Louis
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The French firm, Verrerie de Clichy, began operation after merging with another local glassworks in 1837. The height of paperweight production at the firm was 1846 to 1857. Glass production at Saint Louis was authorized by Louis XV in 1767. By 1782 the firm was creating high quality glass crystal, progressing into pressed glass in the 1800s. St. Louis produced paperweights from 1845 to about 1867.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This paperweight was probably made at St. Louis or Clichy. It features a bouquet of deep pink flowers with one red bud, and a star-cut base.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Paperweights
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mrs. Florence E. Bushee
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.67.228
label: catalog number
content: 67.228
label: accession number
content: 213138
objectType: label: Object Name
content: paperweight
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass, transparent (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cut (joint piece production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/8 in x 3 3/32 in; 5.3975 cm x 7.874 cm