French Glass Night Bottle from La Rochère

Valuable and particular night bottle made of blown glass and "incamiciato"; the object is composed by a bottle shaped like a pumpkin with a flared neck on which rests the glass; they were blown in one single piece both without joints, then shaped with mastery by skilled artisans of La Rochère glassworks in France between 1950 and 1954; The bottle and the glass were produced with the "incamiciatura" technique, which consists in superimposing to the vitreous mass, during the first phase of production, one or more layers of glass of various colors. Flashed glass is glass having a more or less thin thickness, usually characterized by a double vitreous layer. It is an ancient technique, widely used even now, which is obtained by dipping a blown object being processed into a crucible of a glass of different colors. At the end of the process, a blown object will be made of two or more layers of different colors, for example, a white one may be covered by red (see our bottle and glass), or a colored glass may be covered by a light glassy layer of crystal. On our two objects, the craftsman carried out another particular operation: at the precise moment in which the two glasses, red and white, began to amalgamate, the Master placed on the red surface some fragments of black metallic oxides, then he started the blowing and the modeling, in a fast and rapid manner, so that the black spots would expand and distribute only on the surface of the object without penetrating, as if they were brushstrokes, then he put the bottle and the glass back in the furnace for a very short time and then proceeded to fast cooling. On the bottom of the bottle and on the bottom of the glass (as well as on the label) we can find the mark of the company Rochère printed with acid etching. La Rochère is a fine glassworks founded in the town of Passavant-La-Rochère, on the border between Lorraine Franche-Comté and Champagne, in 1475 by Simon de Thysac, a gentleman glassmaker; it is the oldest art glassworks in France still in activity and has been exalting the tradition and workmanship of glass for over five centuries. La Rochère is not only a laboratory that produces glass objects, but it also designs and creates items and products inspired by emotions, marked by history, and shaped by a will. In our bottle, you will not only find a rigorous work on shape, practicality, and sturdiness, but also a unique style, a timeless brand, a French elegance. What may seem to be small defects internal or external to the glass (bubbles, lumps, streaks, etc.) are instead the testimony of craftsmanship and not the result of modern mold operations. Bottle measures height 20 cm, diameter 13 cm, glass measures height 9 cm, diameter 7 cm.