Antique French Four Chamber Divided Enamel and Ormolu Scent Bottle from Baccarat, 1830

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Antique 19th Century French Baccarat Four-Chamber Divided Scent Bottle with Enamelled Floral Gold-Foil Inclusions and Chased Ormolu Stoppers. This exceptional … Read more Antique 19th Century French Baccarat Four-Chamber Divided Scent Bottle with Enamelled Floral Gold-Foil Inclusions and Chased Ormolu Stoppers. This exceptional oviform scent bottle is ingeniously divided into four internal chambers, each intended to hold a separate floral essence. It is supported on a facetted stem and raised on a stepped circular foot, the underside finely decorated with grid-cutting.

Each side of the bottle is set with an oval cabochon containing a polychrome-enamelled gold-foil inclusion. These inclusions depict sprays of flowering plants, representing not only the fragrances originally designed for the bottle but also the symbolic meanings attached to each bloom in the popular Language of Flowers. The rose, shown as a pink spray amongst buds and leaves, symbolises love and beauty. The jonquil (Narcissus jonquilla), depicted as a small bunch, stands for returned affection. The orange blossom, illustrated with fruit, blossom, and foliage, conveys virtue and eternal love. Finally, the violet, shown as a bunch with its leaves, represents modesty and faithfulness.
The bottle retains all four of its original ormolu stoppers, each chased in the form of a scrolling acanthus leaf. Of only two such flacons known, this is the sole complete example, the other, lacking its stoppers, being in the Peck Bequest at The Corning Museum of Glass. Conceived as an objet de luxe by Baccarat, the foremost French glasshouse of its time, this rare creation was more a statement of wealth and taste than a practical vessel. with its extravagant decoration and demanding craftsmanship, its function as a scent bottle was clearly secondary to its role as a visual spectacle designed to delight and impress.

The production of such a piece must have involved preparatory drawings, trials, and extensive labour, which, combined with the expense of manufacture, explains why only two examples were ever made. The present bottle therefore represents the height of Baccarat’s imaginative and luxurious glassmaking of the period. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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