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Crystal champagne cooler with beautiful heat-applied handles. Signature engraved under the base "Schneider à Paris, France." This model was intended for export, which is why it bears the inscription "France." Note the scratches of use on the underside.
Period between 1950 and 1960.
Dimensions: H 21 x W 25 cm, diameter: 19 and 13 cm
The Schneider Crystal Factory
After the Second World War, Charles Schneider encouraged his eldest son, Charles Junior, to build a new glassworks. An engineer by training, in 1947, he filed a building permit, accompanied by plans, for the installation of a crystal factory on the family land in Epinay-sur-Seine. The establishment was founded in 1950 under the name Cristalleries Schneider, and Robert-Henri Schneider, Charles's second son, who, like his father, had received an artistic education, was promoted to artistic director. Working alongside his father, who was still involved in the crystal factory's early years, Robert-Henri Schneider created thick-walled vases and bowls with irregular bubbles, sometimes tinged with blue or speckled with black.
The aesthetic of the 1950s was very different from that of the Art Deco period between the two wars. Crystal replaced glass: bright, contrasting colors gave way to a lack of color. Free-blown crystal was gradually stretched. Beyond traditional shapes, Robert-Henri Schneider also created original lines of candlesticks, clocks, and animals.
In 1957, a gas explosion destroyed the crystal factory. Four years later, the company was relocated to Lorris in the Loiret region. In addition to producing decorative pieces, the crystal factory also produced goblets. Alongside these activities, Robert-Henri Schneider also created a number of unique pieces that heralded the free and spontaneous creation of the first independent French workshops. He retired from the crystal factory in 1977, and his older brother, Charles Junior, closed the factory for good in 1981.
Ref: ICNN09PURW