Pair of Sulphide Portrait Plaques

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Pair of Sulphide Portrait Plaques

Manufacturer Compagnie des Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat (French, 1764-present)

Manufacturer Baccarat Glasshouse (French)

Place of OriginBaccarat, Paris

Dateabout 1820-1830

DimensionsH: 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm)

MediumColorless lead glass, mold-made sulphide inclusion; cut, polished. Cutting on the reverse.

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2010.17

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 4

DescriptionEach plaque suspended by a gilt-bronze hasp, enclosing opposing profile portraits of Marie Antoinette after a medal by Pierre Duvivier and of Louis XVI after a medal by J.P. Droz

Label TextPopular during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, cameo incrustation, or “sulphide,” is achieved by encasing in molten glass a molded relief ornament made from a mix of clay and potash. This special ceramic does not melt or crack in the hot glass, but permanently fuses to it. The refraction of light through the lead glass lends the white cameos their distinct silver-metallic sheen—a clever and innovative optical illusion. These particular sulphides immortalize the profiles of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Created decades after the French Revolution and the royal couple’s executions, such plaques likely would have been owned by French Royalists as commemorative wall decorations.Published ReferencesA Marriage of Collections: The Property of Dr. Julius And Dena K. Tarshis, Christie's Auction, New York, April 21, 2010, lot 44.Comparative ReferencesSee also P. Jokelson and D. Tarshis, Cameo Incrustation: The Great Sulphide Show, The Corning Museum of Glass, New York, 1988, p. 34.