SALE French Empire Comport Opaline Gilt Glass Coupe Bulle de Savon Tazza Vase

Glass : Antique : Opaline Glass : Compotes : Coupes

 

Antique French Empire comport or tazza in exquisite white opaline glass with hand painted gold gilt embellishments. An exquisite bulle de savon opaline vase, rarely seen in such a monumental size. This French Empire coupe would have graced the very grandest of formal dinner parties, a center showpiece heaped with decadent cream desserts topped with expensive liqueurs. It's large size elevated it to a very prominent place of the highest importance, assuring that every guest noticed the rare, elegant, and expensive hand cut opaline bowl atop it's graceful pi'edouche, a lavish presentation for the equally rare and expensive fresh ice creams and rare, chilled desserts only the French aristocracy were privileged to enjoy. The rim of the bowl is exquisitely scalloped, each scallop painstakingly cut into a stylized fleur-de-lis, the symbol of the French monarchy, and heavily gilded with beautiful gold. The pi'edouche and base is also gilded, with some wear to the gilt as you would expect on the piece from handling, most notably on the pi'edouche which is subject to the most handling. The piece stands 8 1/2 inches tall, the bowl measures 10 3/4 inches wide. The base of the piece measures 5 1/2 inches in diameter. A very large example, in very good condition, aside from the gilt wear noted above, there is one small chip along the edge of one of the fleur de lis inside one of the scallops of the rim, please see photo #5 for a closeup.

Item ID: GLS-2516