Millefiori Silhouette Canes

Horse silhouette cane

Silhouette Canes

Baccarat was the French firm that most frequently incorporated silhouette canes in their millefiore paperweights. A silhouette cane is one in which a figure of an animal, person, or flower, or possibly a date or maker's name is the center design in a glass cane.

The first silhouette canes probably came from Venice about 1836. They spread quickly throughout Europe's glass factories. Baccarat and St. Louis frequently used silhouette cog canes, but Clichy rarely used them.

Six examples of silhouette canes in the Barker Collection

A silhouette cane was made by pressing hot molten glass into a mold of the figure, and then pressing another gather of molten glass into a mold for the surrounding glass. The molds would be several inches across and deep. The resulting gather from these molds (often dipped in other molds to make layers) would be stretched out ( a pontil on either end) many feet until it was 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. The long cane was cut into sections for use in paperweights.