Paperweight c. 1845 - 1860

This glass paperweight was created by the Clichy Glasshouse between 1837 and 1885. Encapsulated within its clear form is a delicate flower, a symbol laden with meaning across cultures and epochs. The flower, a motif blooming through art history, appears in ancient Egyptian tombs, symbolizing rebirth, and in Renaissance paintings, representing beauty and transience. Its presence transcends mere decoration, tapping into our collective memory. The intricate details of the flower, carefully crafted in glass, evoke an emotional response, a longing for nature's beauty captured in a lasting form. Like Botticelli's Venus emerging from the sea, adorned with flowers, this glass flower speaks to a deep-seated human fascination with the ephemeral and the beautiful. This single flower in glass is not just an object; it is a symbol, an echo of art across time, continually resurfacing to engage us on a profound, subconscious level.