An exceptional 18-piece Saint-Louis "Grand-Lieu" crystal service, in heavy hand-blown crystal with a ribbed collar joining bowl to stem, the defining feature of this pattern. Each piece is signed on the underside.
Created by Cristallerie Saint-Louis — France's oldest glass manufacture, founded in 1586 and granted royal status in 1767 — the Grand-Lieu pattern is reportedly one of the manufacture's later 20th-century designs, dating to around 1990. It features a clean, architectural silhouette interrupted only by the banded rings at the stem, a detail that gives the glass its sculptural weight and identity.
In excellent condition.
Service Contents:
6 Red Wine glasses — 18.6 x 9 cm
6 White Wine glasses — 17.6 x 8.5 cm
6 Champagne flutes — 24 x 7.2 cm
Total: 18 pieces
Maker: Saint-Louis, France
Pattern: Grand-Lieu
Period: Circa 1990
Marks: Signed on the underside of each piece
Condition: Excellent
The service takes its name from the Lac de Grand-Lieu, a vast, shallow lake in the Loire-Atlantique, just southwest of Nantes — one of France's oldest and largest natural lowland lakes, and a wetland so significant it holds international protected status.
What makes the lake remarkable is its transformation with the seasons: it's home to hundreds of species of birds and plants, and in winter it swells to become the largest natural lowland lake in France, only to shrink back dramatically once the water recedes each summer. Locals compare its vast, shallow expanse to the great lakes of Africa — a quiet, wild place best known through the fishing village of Passay, where a handful of licensed fishermen still work its waters.
It's a fitting namesake for a crystal pattern defined by rhythm and repetition — the banded rings encircling each stem echo the concentric ripples and reed-lined shallows of the lake itself, a small nod from the master glassmakers of Saint-Louis to one of the Loire region's most singular natural landscapes.
Offered by RDS Gallery, Paris. Worldwide shipping with specialist packaging.
An exceptional 18-piece Saint-Louis "Grand-Lieu" crystal service, in heavy hand-blown crystal with a ribbed collar joining bowl to stem, the defining feature of this pattern. Each piece is signed on the underside.
Created by Cristallerie Saint-Louis — France's oldest glass manufacture, founded in 1586 and granted royal status in 1767 — the Grand-Lieu pattern is reportedly one of the manufacture's later 20th-century designs, dating to around 1990. It features a clean, architectural silhouette interrupted only by the banded rings at the stem, a detail that gives the glass its sculptural weight and identity.
In excellent condition.
Service Contents:
6 Red Wine glasses — 18.6 x 9 cm
6 White Wine glasses — 17.6 x 8.5 cm
6 Champagne flutes — 24 x 7.2 cm
Total: 18 pieces
Maker: Saint-Louis, France
Pattern: Grand-Lieu
Period: Circa 1990
Marks: Signed on the underside of each piece
Condition: Excellent
The service takes its name from the Lac de Grand-Lieu, a vast, shallow lake in the Loire-Atlantique, just southwest of Nantes — one of France's oldest and largest natural lowland lakes, and a wetland so significant it holds international protected status.
What makes the lake remarkable is its transformation with the seasons: it's home to hundreds of species of birds and plants, and in winter it swells to become the largest natural lowland lake in France, only to shrink back dramatically once the water recedes each summer. Locals compare its vast, shallow expanse to the great lakes of Africa — a quiet, wild place best known through the fishing village of Passay, where a handful of licensed fishermen still work its waters.
It's a fitting namesake for a crystal pattern defined by rhythm and repetition — the banded rings encircling each stem echo the concentric ripples and reed-lined shallows of the lake itself, a small nod from the master glassmakers of Saint-Louis to one of the Loire region's most singular natural landscapes.
Offered by RDS Gallery, Paris. Worldwide shipping with specialist packaging.
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