Blue-colored flacon de poche decorated with fleur de lys and hearts
Glasshouse of Bernard Perrot, Verrerie Royale d'Orléans
Not on view
This scent bottle (flacon) and a related one (see 83.7.165) were made in the Orléans glasshouse of Bernard Perrot (active from 1649 to 1709), the most famous member of an Italian glassmaking family that probably went to France as followers of Louis Gonzaga. The flacons are examples of one of his inventions, the use of patterned molds with intaglio decoration to cast molten glass into small bottles, beakers, medallions, and vials and then displayed the motifs in relief. Both flacons are cast from the same mold. Perrot specialized in colored glass, producing agate bodies, imitation porcelain in white glass, and a transparent red glass. The three fleurs-de-lis may indicate that this was a glasshouse within royal protection, and the hearts were probably a reference to the vials given as courting gifts.
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