opaline glass

opaline glass, usually opaque glass or crystal, either white or coloured, made in France between approximately 1810 and 1890. Opaline resembles the milk glass of 16th-century Venice and the opaque, white glass associated with Bristol, Eng., in the 18th century.

The main centres of production were Creusot, Baccarat, and Saint-Louis. Items made of opaline included bowls, vases, boxes, cups, and decanters as well as objects used by perfumers and hairdressers.

The earliest colours used were turquoise blue, yellow, and pink (the latter not produced after 1840). In the mid-19th century, opaline was made in more vivid colours, in imitation of Bohemian glass. It was also produced in the form of crystal, semicrystal, glass, and pâte-de-riz (glass made by firing glass powder in a mold), the latter a Bohemian innovation. Sky blue—a colour invented in Bohemia in 1835—was copied at Baccarat and Saint-Louis about 1843; the glass used was generally pâte-de-riz. Ultramarine blue was most frequently used between 1845 and 1850. Some bicolour (white and blue) opaline was made at Baccarat in 1850. Purple opaline was made in small quantity about 1828 at the Paris factory of Bercy and also outside the capital at Choisy-le-Roi. Various greens were also produced, ranging from almond and sea green between 1825 and 1830 to less subtle shades of leaf green in later years.

Decoration included gilding, painting, and transfer printing. From 1840 onward copies of Chinese and Japanese porcelain were made in opaline glass.