Haraut-Guignard/Le Rosey, Paris - wheel engraved decanter, ca. 1898

When browsing for glass, I've learned to look for quality first; and if the maker is unknown, that information can come later. This type of research can be the most fun and rewarding. This beautiful decanter provided just such a diversion.

The engraving is exquisite - done in the style of rock crystal, enameled with the initials AER, 9" tall with a slightly ovoid body (no stopper, unfortunately) and marked on the bottom in gold ink "Le Rosey - 11 rue de la Paix - Paris" - Let the Googling (cross-referencing with the few books on French glass that I have) begin!

What I have found out is that Le Rosey was a shop name used by the French glass refiners and retailers Harout & Guignard. I don't have the dates that this firm was in business, but I do know that they opened up Le Rosey some time around 1897 and closed it down sometime before 1912 (possibly as early as 1905). It was this firm that purchased the financially troubled operation of Ernest Baptiste Leveille some time after 1900. Possible providers of glass blanks to the firm mentioned in my research include Baccarat and Appert Frères in Clichy (or others?). There is an object (a vase) in the Victoria & Albert museum so marked, believed to have been bought by a "Mr. Florence" at Le Rosey in about 1898. The museum indicates that this piece was also decorated in the manner of Chinese rock crystal. The possible dates given are from 1898-1905. It is not known what became of Harout & Guignard, but I do have information on what became of the shop, thanks to the book 'Cartier', by Hans Nadelhoffer:

"In 1898, when Alfred Cartier began to cast around for suitable new premises, the rue de la Paix was clearly the most desirable location. His shop in the boulevard des Italiens was no longer adequate. Additional pressure for a quick move came from the twenty-three-year-old Louis, who had become a partner in his father's firm that same year. In 1897 the Hotel Westminster had been auctioned off to a joint-stock company for half a million francs. It occupied nos. 11 and 13, and Alfred Cartier expressed an interest in one of the shops of no. 13; the other was rented by the lingerie business of Martial et Armand. No. 11 was occupied by the handkerchief shop of Chapron and the porcelain business of Le Rosey... ... in 1912 Cartier's took over no. 11 and had the new wider shopfront designed in a unified style, with four display windows flanking the main entrance and forming that magnificent frontage of black marble which continues to excite the world's admiration even today."

The last photograph above shows the storefront as it exists today - #11 on the left and #13 to the right - all still occupied by Cartier. And those are the doors that this little gem passed through - over 100 years ago!