French Clichy Paperweights
The old city of Clichy, the seat of kings in the 11th and 12th centuries, later a suburb of Paris, and finally an industrial center, became the site of what was probably the second factory in France to make glass paperweights. The same vein of pure sand which extends from St. Louis to Baccarat and Fontainebleau is found at Clichy. Although little of the history of this factory has been recorded, we do know that it was founded in 1840 and that its business was finally liquidated in 1870.
It made some ordinary bottles but also many beautiful ones of the overlay type, as well as decanters, jugs and tumblers, which followed the Venetian type of cutting and engraving.
It made some ordinary bottles but also many beautiful ones of the overlay type, as well as decanters, jugs and tumblers, which followed the Venetian type of cutting and engraving.
| A Clichy paperweight can easily be distinguished if it has a pink or white rose incorporated somewhere in its pattern. This was an individual factory symbol. The use of this rose may have been inspired by the Jacobites, who used a glass ornamented with a white rose when drinking a toast to the Pretender. A purple rose and an open purple flower are color variations not often seen, but they are found occasionally in a wreath or cluster formation of flowers in Clichy weights.
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| Most of the canes in Clichy weights are of opaque colored glass, with a decided flare at the base. Many of these are inserted in a brightly colored opaque background of rose, green, purple, or white. In the Clichy millefiori weights the canes are arranged on a crystal background, and nearly always a Clichy rose is found somewhere among the canes. The canes arranged on a lacy background are similar to the Baccarat.
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Some Clichy weights were signed with a capital "C" in black, green, or red in the center of a cane, but few were ever dated. The name Clichy has also been found in some specimens in very fine letters, but this is extremely rare. Even Clichy weights of the "candy" type, a generally inferior type of weight, were sometimes signed with a "C," and in the canes are to be found bits of a Clichy rose.
| The pear weight shown on the left is typical of the Clichy fruit weights. It will be noted that the background in this case consists of an arrangement of straight lacy canes. Another signed specimen from this group shows the canes set in squares of lacy filigree.
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The Clichy overlay weights are of the double overlay type. The opaque glass forming the outside overlay is usually of light or dark blue, rose, or a green, which is very rare, and the center canes are often arranged in the mushroom style and usually contain a Clichy rose. The faceting of the circles is smaller than found in the St. Louis weights, and a single overlay has yet to be found. All the French factories made a mushroom type of weight.
