Baccarat Butterflies. Baccarat Crystal is a French manufacturer of fine crystal glassware located in Baccarat, France. The company owns two museums: the Musée Baccarat in Baccarat, Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Musée Baccarat in Paris on the Place des États-Unis. Groupe du Louvre is the majority shareholder of the company and is a subsidiary of the United States company Starwood Capital Group.
Baccarat received its first royal commission in 1823. This began a lengthy line of commissions for royalty and heads of state throughout the world. In 1855 Baccarat won its first gold medal at the Worlds Fair in Paris. Baccarat first began marking its work with a registered mark in 1860. The mark was a label affixed to the bottom of the work. In the period 1846-1849 Baccarat signed some of their high quality glass millefiori paperweights with the letter B and the year date in a composite cane. Reference: Wikipedia
Below are some examples of Baccarat glassware with butterflies in their design.
BACCARAT CRYSTAL PAPILLON LUCKY BUTTERFLY IRIDESCENT CLEAR
In original presentation box. Like new.
Sold for US$350 at Louvre Antique Auction in 2023
Baccarat crystal “Butterfly” sculpture depicting a cobalt blue butterfly. Marked with Baccarat stamp hallmark on the underside.
CIRCA: 20th Century
ORIGIN: France
DIMENSIONS: H: 3 1/2″
Sold for US$150 at Akiba Galleries in 2023
UNIQUE ANTIQUE BACCARAT BUTTERFLY AND WALLFLOWER LAMPWORK ART GLASS PAPERWEIGHT, compound example, amethyst butterfly with a latticed body, black head, and multi-colored millefiori wings above a cobalt blue and white wallflower, four leaves and a bud protruding from the underside, raised on a green stem supporting two additional leaves, prism cuts to the underside. The Compagnie des Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat. 1845-1880. 2 1/2″ H, 3 1/8″ D.
Sold for US$3,750 at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates in 2023
A Baccarat spaced millefiori paperweight, dated 1848
The nineteen brightly coloured canes including Gridel silhouettes of a flower, a horse, a butterfly, a deer, an elephant, a cockerel, a dog, a black monkey, a squirrel and a pigeon, together with the signature cane ‘B 1848’, on a multicoloured upset muslin ground, 7.9cm diam, 5.4cm high
Sold for £768 inc. premium at Bonhams in 2023
A BACCARAT BUTTERFLY AND FLOWER WEIGHT
MID-19TH CENTURY
The clear glass set with a large white wheatflower with blue spots with numerous green leaves growing from conjoined stalks, the butterfly with multi-coloured marbled wings, deep-purple body and antennae, and pale-turquoise eyes hovering over the flower, star-cut base
2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm.) diameter
Sold for GBP 2,772 at Christie’s in 2023
