Napoleon III Sulphide Portrait on Blue
Clichy, circa 1845-55
The
Morton D. Barker Paperweight Collection contains objects that were manufactured
in Europe, the United States, and Asia.
The three manufacturers most renowned for the
production of paperweights in the ninetheenth century were the French firms
of Baccarat, Saint
Louis, and Clichy. They produced the highest
quality glass in Europe at that time. A fourth French paperweight maker was
Pantin. Paperweights were being manufactured
from about 1845 in France, and production continued until about 1860, when they
went out of fashion.
British glass companies are also represented in
the collection by a millefiori weight by George
Bacchus and Sons of Birmingham, and two objects attributed to Apsley
Pellatt of London.
Glass paperweights or other objects from Sweden,
Bohemia, and China are also found in the
collection. A few paperweights cannot be positively attributed to any specific
manufacturer or country.