This decanter was made using a cutting machine patented by Jean-Pierre Colné in 1851. Colné trained at Baccarat in France before bringing his family to New York. He employed his machine at the Vesey Street glass factory owned by Joseph Stouvenel until 1855 when Colné moved to Illinois to establish his own company. Elaborately cut glass domestic objects were a sign of elegance and sophistication for nineteenth-century consumers. Their fabrication required highly skilled labor, which meant they were costly. Colné's invention was an attempt to partially automate the production process. His machine did little to lower the cost of the glass objects but it did allow for highly regular and smaller cuts, which refracted the light and gave his objects dazzling surfaces.