Lot 162: f - A RARE AND IMPORTANT BERNARD PERROT ENAMELLED AND GILT OVAL PORTRAIT MEDALLION OF LOUIS XIV HIS

f - A RARE AND IMPORTANT BERNARD PERROT ENAMELLED AND GILT OVAL PORTRAIT MEDALLION OF LOUIS XIV HIS GLASSHOUSE, ORLÉANS, 1680-90

the unusually thick metal polished on the upper side and with bevelled edge, the reverse moulded in intaglio with a portrait of The Sun King in profile facing right, dressed in armour and a long flowing robe painted in iron-red and blue and gilt with loose flowers, on a silvered mirrored ground

Condition Note: repaired chip to top of bevelled edge, some typical chips to edge of rim, flaking to enamels and silvering on reverse

36.8cm., 14 3/8 in. high by 30.2cm., 11 7/8 in. wide

King Louis XIV ruled France from 1643 to 1715.

Born in Altare to a well-known family of glassmakers, in his youth Bernard Perrot (1619-1709) travelled extensively in France with his father, Francisco Perroto. During his travels he visited Nevers and Liège where he worked at the Bonhomme glasshouse for a short period. He was granted permission to establish a glasshouse in Orléans on 13th July 1662. In December 1666, Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIV, obtained French naturalisation for Perrot and on the 7th December 1668 he was granted a special privilege to use his development of a new method of enamelling.

Perrot's secret method of casting glass into a mould to produce relief figures, busts, medals, inscriptions and coats-of-arms is considered perhaps his most important invention. After petitioning for ten years, on 2nd April 1687 he wrote a letter to the Académie des Sciences about his new method of glass casting and was finally granted a special privilege for its manufacture on 25th September 1688. A cast-iron reference to the medallions is found in J.Barrelet, 'Un portrait de Louis XIV et l'invention du coulage de la glace', Cahiers de la céramique, du verre et des arts du feu, no.27, 1962, pp.181-185. Their existence was mentioned in a text of the period written by M.de Comiers in the Mercure galant, March 1687, using information supplied by Perrot, "He makes in a mould all sorts of glass in sheets, of the size and thickness that he wishes......These works have this advantage, they can be high or deeply moulded, or carved in relief on the flat surfaces of these pieces of glass; and if these figures are painted by a skilful man with bright colours: these colours are joined to the relief, and they make it seem natural even though the surface is quite flat, of which device pleasantly fools those who come into contact with it....".

The current hitherto unrecorded medallion with its portrait following the patterns of medals bearing an image of the King of about 1680, adds an eighth to the present group. The known examples may be found at the Musée Historique de l'Orléanais, Orléans (illustrated Dr. J.Bénard and B.Dragesco, Bernard Perrot et Les Verreries Royales du Duché d'Orléans 1662-1754, cover image and p.44), the Compagnie Saint-Gobain (illustrated Barrelet, op. cit., p.183). A third was sold in Orléans by the auctioneer Louis Savot on 12th June 1976 and is now in a private collection. It is also coloured but in a limited palette of green and yellow enamel against a mirrored ground. A fourth medallion is to be found in a private collection in Paris whilst a fifth was acquired by the Louvre in 1993 (illustrated Journal of Glass Studies, vol.36., 1994, p.107, fig.4). A sixth example was sold at Christie's London, 18th December 1995, lot 116. A seventh entered a private collection in 2003. The mounted suspension loops that have survived indicate that the clear versions were intended to be hung in windows. The two mirrored versions were probably framed and wall-mounted.

The gilded example acquired by the Louvre recently would suggest that those with only partial gilding were originally fully gilt The present lot is unique in that it is the only fully coloured example so far extant. Although the enamels have yet to be fully analysed and may have been added later, if contemporary with the manufacture of the glass, it is unlikely that the painting was personally undertaken by Perrot but rather by a 'skilful man' under his direction, as mentioned by M. de Comiers above.

Bernard Dragesco has suggested that these important examples of Perrot's cast glass method were probably made during those ten years whilst he was attempting to obtain a licence, for presentation to important personages as a means of advertising his new and unique process. Dragesco has also indicated that there appear to be two versions of the King's portrait, a more youthful likeness and the King somewhat older; this medallion would appear to be the younger version of the King.

We are grateful to Bernard Dragesco and Mme.Jeannine Geyssant for their assistance with cataloguing this lot.