These two bottles were probably made to contain perfume. They combine two pairs of glassmaking techniques: (1) blowing and cutting crystal glass and (2) flameworking and encasing paperweights. The Saint-Louis glasshouse was highly regarded for both of these processes. In the mid-19th century, it set the fashion for colorful floral paperweights. The disk in the base of each of these bottles, like the flowers in its stopper, was pre-assembled from opaque colored canes. The bottles themselves are made of decolorized lead glass. This glass was first used in continental Europe by Saint-Louis in 1781, following its successful introduction by British glasshouses, and it was perfected and widely produced as late as 1830 to 1848. The Compagnie des Cristalleries de Saint-Louis was registered under that name in 1829, but the firm was formed from glasshouses that had been founded in Münzthal, northern Lorraine, in 1586, and re-established under the patronage of King Louis XV in 1767. This rare pair of bottles was bequeathed by Dena K. Tarshis, a longtime friend of the Museum, president of its Fellows, and a passionate and knowledgeable collector of glass. For more on the Saint-Louis glasshouse, see Gérard Ingold, From Glass to Crystal Glass: The Story of Saint Louis, 1586–1986, Paris: Denoël, 1986.