Antique French Napoleon III Blue Opaline Tulip Vase with Gilt Bronze Flowers and Foliate Base, c. 1860–1880

Antique French Napoleon III Blue Opaline Tulip Vase with Gilt Bronze Flowers and Foliate Base, c. 1860–1880

A tall vase of sky-blue opaline shaped like a tulip just opening: the rim is cut into tall, pointed petals, the body swells gently and narrows to a knopped stem, and the whole flower rises from a round, spreading foot. Two sprays of gilt bronze flowers, buds and leaves climb the petals on either side, and the foot sits in a gilt bronze mount of scrolling foliage and blossoms that curls out onto the table.

Blue opaline was a favorite of French glassmakers from the 1820s onward, and by the Second Empire it was being dressed in gilt bronze like this, with cast flowers applied straight to the glass. It is a Napoleon III piece through and through: romantic, a little theatrical, and made to catch the light on a mantel or a console.

The color is a clear, saturated blue with the soft inner glow that only true opaline has, and it reads beautifully from across a room.

A tall, graceful piece of French blue opaline that holds a room on its own, and pairs naturally with the other opaline from this trip.