Crystal Drinking Glass

Art Historical Context

Step into the refined world of 19th-century French decorative arts with Jules-Ferdinand Jacquem's *Crystal Drinking Glass* (1868), a etching now housed in the Metropolitan Museum Art's Department of Drawings and Prints.emart, a celebrated Parisian etcher, specialized in hyper-realistic reproductions of luxury objects, bridging the gap between fine art and craftsmanship during the opulent Second Empire era. This print captures the exquisite transparency and faceted brilliance of a crystal drinking vessel, rendered with astonishing precision on a plate measuring 14 15/16 × 11 1/8 inches. Etching, Jacquemart's favored medium, involved incising intricate lines into a metal plate with acid, allowing him to mimic the play of light on glass facets— a technical feat that highlighted both the object's elegance and his own virtuosity. Such works served as scholarly records, appealing to collectors like Howard Mansfield, whose 1917 gift brought it to the Met. Admire how Jacquemart elevates everyday luxury into high art, reflecting France's passion for cristal de roche amid the era's industrial and artistic innovations. A testament to printmaking's power to preserve beauty. (198 words)

About the Artist

Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart · 1837–1880

**Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart: Master Etcher and Watercolorist** Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart was born on September 7, 1837, in Paris to Albert Jacquemart, a prominent art collector, ceramics historian, and amateur artist, and Louise Émilie Labbé. The third of four children, he received his initial training in etching from his father, who had no formal master himself and emphasized self-taught preci...