A rare and important silver-mounted armorial glass flute Laurent, Paris, dated 1814

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

inscribed Laurent à Paris 1814
62.2cm., 24½in.

in four sections, each faceted length mounted with silver keys and bands, engraved with the coat-of-arms of Charles Ferdinand d'Artois

Catalogue Note

Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duc de Berry (1757-1836), was the second son of King Charles X of France.

In 1806 Laurent, a flute specialist, invented the process of glass flute manufacture and pioneered the use of metal lined sockets and key pillars mounted on plates screwed to the body. He patented the design in the same year in which a Conservatoire commission reported favourably on this flute of crystal glass (capable of withstanding extremes of temperature and with superior keywork). Among other examples still existing is one preserved in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC.

Popular with members of the royal courts of Europe, Laurent flutes were owned not only by Emperor Napoleon I of France, King Louis Napoleon of Holland, King Joseph Bonaparte of Spain, and Emperor Franz I of Austria, but also by James Madison, the fourth President of the United States.