A CHARLES X PERIOD CUT CRYSTAL CLOCK WITH A MERCURY-GILT BRONZE FLUTE PLAYER

A Restoration period clock in finely cut crystal with a chased and gilded bronze mount. A flute player stands to the right of the movement, which is signed Le Roy à Paris and surmounted by a sweetmeat dish decorated with foliage. The rise of French crystal dates back to the 19th century. Produced in abundance thanks to advances in chemistry and machinery, it became widely available, remaining a luxury. In the 19th century, French crystal production was in the hands of four crystalworks: The Royal Glassworks of Saint-Louis, founded in 1767 in Muntzthal, was the first to discover, by sending observers to England, the secrets of crystal manufacturing. From then on, Saint-Louis specialized in luxury glassware and then turned its attention to opal crystal. The general term "Baccarat crystal" encompasses the production of three factories: Vonèche, founded in 1778 near Liège, and acquired in 1802 by Aimé-Gabriel d'Artigues, nephew of the director of Saint-Louis. When the treaties of 1815 removed Vonèche from French territory, d'Artigues bought the Saint-Anne glassworks near Baccarat. Then, in 1822, the Baccarat crystal factory absorbed the Trelon glassworks in the north, which at that time produced only window glass. The man who propelled Baccarat crystal to prominence was a scholar, a glass technician, and also a very good administrator: JB Toussaint, who, until his death in 1858, made life difficult for both French and foreign competitors. Among these competitors, the Creusot factory had benefited from government support to discover the secret of colored crystals imported from England. The Creusot factory, also known as Montcenis, was a revival of the Queen's factory founded in Sèvres in 1783 by Lambert and Boyer. It was due to mismanagement that the government decided in 1785 to transfer the factory to Creusot. Despite some notable successes, particularly with yellow and turquoise opal crystals, Creusot fell back into financial difficulties, and in 1832, Baccarat and Saint-Louis agreed to buy the factory and shut down the furnaces. Two other factories were founded during the Restoration: Choisy-le-Roi in 1821 and Bercy in 1827. In 1832, a commercial agreement between Baccarat and Saint-Louis was extended to the Choisy-le-Roi and Bercy factories, which had proven themselves through excellent production. Charles X period, circa 1825