Nevers Glass Figure

Nevers glass figure, any of the ornamental glassware made in Nevers, Fr., from the late 16th century through the early 19th. Only a few inches high, they have been mistaken for fine porcelain but were made of glass rods and tubes and were often made on a wire armature. The subjects are religious, mythological, historical, allegorical, or anecdotal. Nevers glass owes its origins, like Nevers faience, to an influx of Italian workers in the 16th century, notably to the Sarode family. The first known French glassworkers in Nevers were Jean Prestereau (1595) and his son Léon. Allegedly, Louis XIII, as a child, played with toy glass animals from Nevers. Similar glass objects were made elsewhere in France; and often it is difficult to distinguish Nevers wares, though the figures are, like Nevers faience, generally dull yellow, white, red, or blue.