Miraculous...Delicate.... Confectionery Delights!

Antique, Early 19th c Blown Glass Cake Decorations

What a delight to share!  We have been blessed to acquire a collection of early glass cake or pastry decorations amassed c1840, perhaps made well before that. They are of such high skilled execution and design one could speculate they could have been commissioned by Master Chef Antonin Careme himself for some spectacular dessert marvel.  The collection includes 14 separate pieces, and so wonderful, I have chosen to share them each a few at a time so you can appreciate their petite & wonderful magic for yourselves.

They all of coarse have their issues, but they pale in comparison to their Grandeur!  My mind races off on adventures of its own when I try to imagine the cake or cakes that once held these masterpieces of a glass blower's art~ what occasion was so special to require such intricate, delicate figures?  A Wedding???  A Birthday????  Perhaps a Engagement???  Perhaps there was a special baby on the way???  I would tend to theorize it is a set for a wedding or engagement~ all of the birds and animals are in pairs...the only bird that is not, is paired with a nest of eggs (fertility)...there are not one but two pieces containing strawberries (in 17th & 18th c strawberries represented faithfulness and commitment in marriage)...there is a carriage & driver~ (perhaps come to take a girl courting?).... there are the two spade shape arches that still retain their long glass spikes~ in the center of one is a cupid with a bow and arrow (love)....the tallest of all the figures, at nearly 14" tall, is this wonderful piece shown above~ it has a glass hook on each side, that once probably held a hanging basket...but of what? It looks like a scale to me~ a perfectly 'balanced' scale..... so far everything is screaming love & courtship and engagement/marriage!

But then....in gets thrown the big question mark~ a candelabra with not one or two..but three candles!

It is second tallest of the figures, on very fancy cobalt glass feet.  The last home of the collection displayed them glued into their display case~ all of which I will be carefully removing. They are so delicate~ one cannot help themselves to hold their breath when looking at them, for fear of blowing one over and breaking it

 As if the three clear glass rods were not indication of a candle enough....here they are~ three wonderfully hand blown hollow glass candles complete with dark wicks atop them

Each fits perfectly over the glass rod of the candelabra

Now there is a funky flourish of glass jetting straight out toward the camera in this picture~ so perhaps there were another two candles on this....but it doesn't look like anything is missing from the middle, where they would have been attached, and there aren't any extra candles....but even if there were....what is the significance of three or five candles??? Three or five years.....what does it man? I want to know!!!  lol

   Whoever, and for whatever reason these were made, I probably will never know, but one thing is for certain, these were a special commission from a master glass worker, from a very, very wealthy person, for a very special occasion.  I hope later to display them as they were made to be, on a set of cakes. Until then, I hope you will enjoy the next few posts of them individually.