Art Institute of Chicago
Paperweight
Clichy Glassworks (Cristalleries de Clichy)LinkedCulture matchlcp-aab3e124e79d
- Date
- c. 1845–55
- Medium
- Glass
- Culture
- Clichy
- Department
- Applied Arts of Europe
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 159456
This paperweight uses a traditional glass-making technique called millefiori to great effect. Italian for “one thousand flowers,” millefiori was first developed in fifteenth-century Venice. In the nineteenth century, French glassmakers revived the technique with a cultural twist. Arranged to evoke traditional French gardens such as the Tuileries in Paris, paperweights like this example brought a little of this landscaping magic indoors. From the late 1840s to early 1860s, French manufacturers of fine glass and crystal—such as Baccarat (Alsace), Clichy (Paris), and Saint-Louis (Lorraine)—catered to the vast public enthusiasm for beautiful yet functional desk accessories. Paperweights, which were designed to secure loose papers against drafts, were among their most popular products.
The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Bequest of Arthur Rubloff
- Provenance
- Arthur Rubloff (1902–1986), Chicago, Mar. 20, 1965 [the object was placed on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago beginning on Apr. 6, 1978]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1988.
Linked open data
Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.
- Object type
- AAT300386226
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.