Charming antique French Napoleon III Grand Tour style souvenir jewel casket, a lovely box with eglomise (reverse painted) glass scene of the Paris Opera Garnier! We recently acquired several of these wonderful little French souvenir caskets and will be adding them in the coming weeks. This one with very thick beveled glass panels, four panels around the sides and the larger top with the scene transferred & painted on the back side.
The Palais Garnier , also known as Opéra Garnier, is a historic 1,979 seat opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. Initially referred to as le nouvel Opéra de Paris (the new Paris Opera), it soon became known as the Palais Garnier, "in acknowledgment of its extraordinary opulence" and the architect Charles Garnier's plans and designs, which are representative of the Napoleon III style.
"Eglomise" is the term applied to the back-painted glass panels in these old French souvenirs. Most of them date 1800s, though they were made up through about 1910 in this manner, too. Later ones often have a photo set in instead. The early ones are our favorites, sometimes a screened ink-line like drawing that is then hand colored, or sometimes a full miniature painting original, all worked on the back side of a panel or convex plaque of glass. There are sometimes open spots left and a final step is application of thin mother of pearl panels so that the windows shimmer with pearlescent light, or architectural details are pearl - you can see how fun those are. I'm listing a whole collection from this genre, one at a time
Very good condition. Possibly a tiny nip or two to the glass panels but no larger chips or cracks. The eglomise scene is in great shape though there is some 'bubbling' or lost spots in the blue sky area. The original inner tufted silk or satin base pad/lining is missing. See pictures for all measurements.
