Pate-de- Verre

Pate-de-Verre

Pate-de- Verre

In the late 19^th century, a group of French glass makers revived and redeveloped the complex ancient Egyptian techniques of Pate-de-Verre and reintroduced it into the 20^th century studio glass making repertoire.

Pate-de-Verre is a sophisticated technique used to make exclusive one-off or limited edition pieces.

Pate-de- Verre

A mould of the design is filled with crushed glass coloured with metallic oxides and heated until the glass fuses .

Pate-de- Verre

When the glass has cooled it is removed from the mould and hand finished.

For exclusive pieces the mould was made using the cire perdue or lost Wax process and used only once.

With limited editions or semi-production line pate-de-verre, a reusable mould was employed.

French glassmakers excelled in the techniques, Almaric Walter was probably the most prolific exponent of pate-de-verre.

In the Daum workshop at Nancy, between 1906 and 1914, both he and Henri Berge produced small animals, insects, and reptiles, either as small sculptures or decoration.

Pate-de- Verre

Walter set up his own pate-de-verre workshop in 1919, using the A Walter Nancy mark.

Pate-de- Verre

He continued with designs similar to those he created for Daun, as well commissioning designs from other artists, who  often signed their work.

Francois Emile Decorchemont  and Joseph Gabriel Argy- Rousseau were both former ceramicists turned glassmakers.

Who specialised in pate-de-verre after world War 1.

Decorchemont  is best known for his thick walled vases  with veined and streaky decoration.

Pate-de- Verre

Argy-Rousseau produced a prolific range of small richly coloured Art Nouveau and Art Deco style pieces at his workshop Les Pates de verres d Argy Rousseau in Paris.

If you like this class you will have to dig deep into your pockets as it does not come cheap, but I personally think it’s worth every penny and a great investment opportunity.