Paperweight c. 1848 - 1855

This glass paperweight was made by the Compagnie de Saint Louis, a French glassmaking company. The paperweight is an intimate object, designed to be held and admired up close, reflecting the culture of collecting and display that flourished during the 19th century. Considered as a token of luxury and status, the paperweight would have been placed on a desk in a domestic setting. The glass encapsulates a carefully arranged bouquet of flowers, emblems of beauty and fragility. The layering of glass creates depth and distorts the internal images, offering a shifting perspective as the object turns in your hand. The act of enclosing these delicate representations of flowers in glass raises questions about preservation and control. I wonder, does the paperweight capture a moment of natural beauty or does it create a self-contained world, separate from the outside? This object asks us to reflect on our relationship with nature and our impulse to contain and preserve what we value most.