ANTIQUE BACCARAT FRINGED GENTIANS AVENTURINE-DECORATED LAMPWORK ART GLASS PAPERWEIGHT, three cobalt blue gentian blossoms with white interiors hanging from thin aventurine green stems supporting nine aventurine green leaves with the lower blades being longer and a small blue bud to the top, rayed to the underside. The Compagnie des Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat. 1845-1880. 2" H, 2 5/8" DOA.

Literature: Parallels Dunlop - Baccarat Paperweights, p. 85, fig. 273. Parallels - Glass Paperweights of the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, pl. 53, fig. 1130. Parallels Hollister - Glass Paperweights of the New-York Historical Society, pl. 44, bottom left. Parallels Hollister/Lanmon - Paperweights: "Flowers which clothe the meadows", p. 71, fig. 59.

Catalogue Note: According to Dunlop, "33 examples of this flower are known, ...15 blue." Dunlop only records two colors in gentians, which are blue and orange. Dunlop described gentians, in general, as follows: "One of the rarer flowers known from Baccarat." All of the green elements of this piece are aventurine green. I cannot find a source that describes this pattern or flower form as having aventurine decoration.

Very good condition overall with some scattered small crescent-form bruises and light wear.