Early 19th Century Opaline Crystal Cup with Birds

Conical flask on a high foot in opaline crystal with its flattened stopper. A star-shaped pattern highlighted with small flowers decorates the top of the stopper, and gilt bands unde...

A white opaline cup on small pedestal and gilt bronze mount finely chiseled with flowers. Both handles shaped in pigeons resting on curved branches and bent to drink. The pure shape and silhouette, like the delicate colour give this cup a great elegance. Called "opal crystals" from the Empire, and later "opalines", this name designates several types of coloured glassware produced in France in the 19th century. The oldest opal crystals are lead glasses mixed with dyes. The old opacification recipes adapted to lead glass produce an opalescent material, known as "soap bubble" or "soapy opaline". Opal colours" are the other shades that result from the addition of metal oxides to this basic opal composition. These lenses, which are pink in colour, called "hydrangea" and then "pigeon's throat", obtained with gold salts, or "turquoise" blue thanks to cobalt or copper oxides, are often mounted in gilt bronze. The beautiful frames, finely chiselled with palmettes, interlacing or gothic-inspired motifs, house...