Baccarat (French glassworks).

In 1764 Monseigneur de Montmorency-Laval, Bishop of Metz, petitioned Louis XV to have a glassworks built at Baccarat, near Luneville, in order to make use of his vast forests. The factory was initially directed by Antoine Renault and was called the Verreries de Sainte-Anne because Renault requested permission to build a chapel so that the workers could attend their religious obligations. At first the factory produced soda glass for household and industrial purposes. In 1816 it was purchased by the Belgian manufacturer Aime-Gabriel D'Artigues (1778--1848), who transferred his Voneche glassworks near Namur to Baccarat, built a new factory and began the production of lead glass. In 1823 the factory changed its name to the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat and made plain crystal, opaline, and some alabaster and agate glass. In 1846 Baccarat began producing millefiori glassware and paperweights, followed by paperweights with flowers, fruits or reptiles. From 1848 the factory produced sulphides (opaque portrait medallions or cameos) to be inserted in clear glass and in the 1850s introduced coloured glass to its range. Its main output, however, was tableware, and services for Louis XVIII (1823), Charles X (1828) and Louis-Philippe (1839--40) were made at Baccarat. The factory exhibited at the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes of 1925 in Paris and in the late 20th century produced fine tableware based on traditional patterns, as well as new lines by contemporary designers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. E. MacSwiggan: 'Baccarat', Ant. J., xxviii (1973), pp. 16--18
G. Manners: 'Galleries: Baccarat', Connoisseur, clxxxix (1975), p. 89
A. Noakes: 'Baccarat at Asprey's', Ant. Dealer & Colr's Guide, vii (1975), pp. 88--91
P. Fitzpatrick: 'Baccarat: Crystal of Kings', Ant. J., xxxi (1976), pp. 12--14

LIANA PAREDES-AREND

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