Photograph by Shannon Ruff, Canon EOS Mark II D digital slr-2006.

John Quincy Adams Paperweight

Manufacturer Unknown

CultureFrench? | American?

Date1825-1875

MediumGlass

DimensionsOverall: 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
Overall, Rim: 2 in. (5.1 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number90.21

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 116-4, Case 30

DescriptionColorless glass dome-shaped paperweight enclosing a sulphide bust portrait of John Quincy Adams (profile to sinister). The basal ring is irregular, à la The New England Glass Co., but the profile is most like that associated with The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company.

Label TextJohn Quincy Adams Paperweight Attributed to the Cristalleries de Baccarat, France, ca. 1848-1855 Glass with sulphide inclusion Museum Purchase 90.21 This simple portrait of American statesman and president John Quincy Adams was made for the American market about the time of Adams' death in 1848, probably as a memorial keepsake. President Zachary Taylor, who died in 1850 while in office, was also commemorated in a mid-19th-century French paperweight. Edited By: GLYExhibition History"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25,1996 - March 2, 1997 Published ReferencesHollister, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GLASS PAPERWEIGHTS, pp. 49, 125, 198, & 214. Paul Jokelson, SULPHIDES: THE ART OF CAMEO INCRUSTATION, p. 83, fig. 77 center, attributes a nearly identical sulphide to Baccarat, but this sulphide shows more of Adams' shoulder & breast (two buttons on the coat instead of one), and his necktie does not project beyond the coat profile. Christie's, ENGLISH & CONTINENTAL GLASS AND PAPERWEIGHTS, (London, Feb. 13, 1990), lot 265, listed but not illustrated.

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