Lead glass, or crystal, is a type of glass whose high lead content gives to it many technical as well as aesthetic benefits that have contributed to make it the highest form of glass.
Crystal is appreciated, since its discovery in the XVIIth century, for its brilliance, its transparency and its particular sound. A century later, Bohemian crystal introduced the notion of art of the table before French crystal, at the end of the same century, was put in the spolight thanks to its elegance envied as much as appreciated.
The Parisian society Escalier de Cristal, in particular, brought this material up to date by proposing the new mix of bronze and crystal. French creation was mainly concentrated in the north-east of France. This is where the crystal factories of Saint-Louis and Baccarat but also the Ecole de Nancy around Emile Gallé were born.
