Picturing Places and Spaces

A tranquil lake scene appears on the sides of this pair of glass vases. Portions of the shorelines are visible at the base, and silver fir trees stretch toward the mouth of each vase. The thin walls allow light to pass through the glass to become the luminous sky perhaps as dusk begins. This light reflects on the placid water of the lake. In the distance, the silhouettes of forested hills appear, and the trees cast shadows along the shoreline. Using an acid-etching technique, the designer adds precise detail to the branches of the spindly trees. This scenery is like that in the Vosges area of France where François-Théodore Legras spent his childhood and learned woodcutting before travelling to Paris to study glassmaking. His signature, Legras, appears on the lower part of each vase.

François-Théodore Legras formed Legras & Company around 1870. By the end of the century, the company specialized in acid-etched and enameled cameo glass, and it was regarded as one of the four great glassmakers of France. Legras glass became popular as decorative glass produced for the middle class and as novelty liqueur bottles for distilleries.