“Art for art’s sake” was a belief strongly espoused by the celebrated French designer and glassworker Émile Gallé. Through his ethereal glass vases, other vessels and lamps, which he adorned with botanical and religious motifs, Gallé advanced the Art Nouveau ideology and led the modern renaissance of French glass.
Gallé was the son of successful faience and furniture maker Charles Gallé but studied philosophy and botany before coming to glassmaking later in life. The young Gallé’s expertise in botany, however, would inform his design style and become his signature for generations to come.
After learning the art of glassmaking, Gallé went to work at his father’s factory in Nancy. He initially created clear glass objects but later began to experiment with layering deeply colored glass.
While glassmakers on Murano had applied layers of glass and color on decorative objects before Gallé had, he was ever-venturesome in his northeastern France, taking advantage of defects that materialized during his processes and etching in natural forms like insects such as dragonflies, marine life, the sun, vines, fruits and flowers modeled from local specimens.
Gallé is also credited with reviving cameo glass, a glassware style that originated in Rome. He used cabochons, which were applied raised-glass decorations colored with metallic oxides and made to resemble rich jeweling. Gallé's cameo glass vases and vessels were widely popular at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, cementing his position as a talented designer and pioneer.
During the late 19th century, Gallé led breakthroughs in mass production and employed hundreds of artisans in his workshop.
Botany and nature remained great sources of inspiration for the artist's glassmaking — just as they had for other Art Nouveau designers. From approximately 1890 to 1910, the movement’s talented designers produced furniture, glass and architecture in the form of — or adorned with — gently intertwining trees, flowers and vines. But Gallé had many interests, such as Eastern art and ceramics. The Japanese collection he visited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (then the South Kensington Museum) during the 1870s had made an impression too.
Breaking free from the rigid Victorian traditions, Gallé infused new life and spirit into the art and design of his time through exquisitely crafted glass vessels and pioneering new glassworking techniques.
Find a collection of Émile Gallé vases and other furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.
$5,865
H 3.55 in Dm 16.93 in
Costantini Diego Modern Real Gold Made Murano Glass Plate with Dragonflies
By Costantini
Located in Murano, Venezia
Handmade Murano glass blown Plate with real 24kt gold leaf and multicolored dragonflies attached with magnet. The Plate contains 8 dragonflies. Modern plate...
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Émile GALLÉ, Plant holder with dragonflies, circa 1880
By Émile Gallé
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
This small zoomorphic planter was created by Émile Gallé around 1880. Considered the founding father of Art Nouveau, Émile Gallé took over the factory founded by his father and gave...
Ceramic
$350
H 2.25 in W 18.25 in D 8.5 in
Franz Collection Papillon Butterfly Porcelain Ornamental Platter Handled Tray
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Franz Collection Papillon Butterfly Porcelain Ornamental Platter Handled Tray. Circa Early 21st Century, Pre-owned. Measurements: 2.25" H x 18.25" W x 8.5" D.
Porcelain
Anna Weatherley Designs Hand-Painted Serving Tray with Handles
By Anna Weatherley Designs
Located in Toronto, ON
A beautiful hand painted square serving tray with handles, by Anna Weatherley Designs. Anna Weatherley has been designing and producing Fine Botanical Hand Painted Porcelain in Hunga...
Porcelain
Hand-Painted Ceramic Dessert Plate - Dragonfly, Insect Collection
By Bertrando Di Renzo
Located in ROCCAVIVARA CB, IT
Step into the charm of an English garden with our ceramic plates, hand-painted with the design of a dragonfly. Perfect as enchanting tableware to elevate your dining experience or as...
Ceramic
$4,950
H 4.75 in Dm 18.25 in
Emilia Castillo Large Porcelain & Pure Silver Bowl with Lizards and Dragonflies
By Emilia Castillo
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A remarkable large decorative bowl designed and handcrafted by Emilia Castillo in Taxco, Mexico, merging fine porcelain with intricate pure silver (plata pura) details. The bowl’s s...
Silver
Anna Weatherley Designs Hand-Painted Leaf-Shaped Tray with Handle
By Anna Weatherley Designs
Located in Toronto, ON
A beautiful hand painted leaf-shaped serving tray with handle, by Anna Weatherley Designs. Anna Weatherley has been designing and producing Fine Botanical Hand Painted Porcelain in H...
Porcelain
Hand-Painted Ceramic Dinner Plate - Dragonfly, Insect Collection
By Bertrando Di Renzo
Located in ROCCAVIVARA CB, IT
Step into the charm of an English garden with our ceramic plates, hand-painted with the design of a dragonfly. Perfect as enchanting tableware to elevate your dining experience or as...
Ceramic
Majolica Plate Flowers & Dragonfly Choisy le Roi, circa 1880
By Choisy-le-Roi
Located in Austin, TX
Majolica Plate Flowers & Dragonfly Choisy le Roi, circa 1880. Baby blue background with lily of the valley. 8 inches diameter.
Ceramic
$162 / item
H 0.6 in W 14.97 in D 11.03 in
Monteverde, Contemporary Decorated Porcelain Tray Design by Vito Nesta
By Vito Nesta
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Monteverde is a collection inspired by the Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica, located in the central part of the country. It is a mountainous area rich in biodiversity, known for it...
Porcelain
Edgar Brandt Serpent Tray
By Edgar Brandt
Located in New York, NY
The form of this exquisite Edgar Brandt serpent tray was inspired by East Asian Bronze mirrors. In East Asian culture, mirrors were one of the mos...
Bronze
Art Nouveau Amalric Walter and Henri Bergé "Buccin" Pâte de verre vide poche
By Amalric Walter
Located in New York, NY
This vide-poche depicts a whelk (Buccin) beside a strand of fucus, the brown algae traditionally harvested along the Breton coast. Such gathering was historically undertaken by goémo...
Glass
French Art Nouveau Round Ceramic Decorative Charger by Clément Massier
By Clement Massier
Located in New York, NY
A French Art Nouveau round ceramic decorative plate by Clément Massier, depicting a Byzantine Head in iridescent enamel glazes, circa 1900s. Signed, ...
Ceramic
Louis Chalon French Art Nouveau Tray with Sculpted Femme Fleur
By Louis Chalon
Located in New York, NY
A French Art Nouveau tray with sculpted femme fleur by Louis Chalon. Titled “Pirouetting Femme-fleur,” pictured in: Dynamic beauty: Sculpture of Art Nouveau Paris, by Macklowe Galler...
Bronze
Émile Gallé "Papillon" Étagère Wall Shelf
By Émile Gallé
Located in New York, NY
This exquisite Galle wall shelf showcases an array of flowers, vegetables, butterflies, and moths that thrived in his garden at 27 Avenue de la Garenne. Adorning the left wall are depictions of Spinning Gourds and Tiger Moths...
Fruitwood, Mahogany, Walnut
Eugène Feuillâtre "Pavot" Inkwell
By Eugène Feuillatre
Located in New York, NY
This stunning enamel, silvered metal, and gilt metal "Pavot" inkwell by Eugène Feuillâtre features peacock feather embellishments. The Inkwell lies under the gilded and silvered metal poppy seed pod lid, to which the title pavot (translated to English as poppy) refers. The vessel is vaguely pumpkin-shaped with negative space in a honeydew green, with white peacock feathers featuring purple and turquoise details. Product Details: Item #: S-21164 Artist: Eugène Feuillâtre Country: France Circa: 1900 Dimensions: 2.25" height, 3.5" diameter Materials: Enamel, Silvered Metal, Gilt Metal Signed: impressed Feuillâtre Exhibition History: Examples of this inkwell can be found in the permanent collections of Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva (inv. no. E 01500), Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (inv. no. 8746), and Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (inv. no. 1966.1). Salon des Artistes français, 1898. Literature: L. Bénédite, et. al., "Exposition Universelle de 1900: Les Beaux-Arts et les Arts Decoratifs," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1900, p. 510 (for a related example). H. Frantz, "E. Feuillatre, Emailleur," L’Art Décoratif, no. 28, Paris, January 1901, p. 166 (for a related example). C. Saunier, "Céramique, Verrerie, Émail," L’Art Décoratif, no. 34, Paris, July 1901, p. 155 (for a related example). R. Marx, La Décoration et les Industries d'Art à l'Exposition Universelle de 1900, Paris, 1901, p. 95 (for a related example). M. P. Verneuil, "L'Émail et les Émailleures," Art et Décoration, no. 2, Paris, February 1904, pp. 37-39 (for a related example). M. Rheims, L'Objet 1900, Paris, 1964, p. 34, no. 18 (for a related example). P. Garner, ed., The Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts 1890-1940, New York, 1978, p. 95 (for a related example). Die Jugendstil - Sammlung: Band 1: Künstler A-F, exh. cat., Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, 1979, pp. 465-466, cat. no. 655. A. Duncan, The Paris Salons 1895-1914, Volume V: Objets d'Art & Metalware, Suffolk, 1994, p. 252 (for related examples). G. de Bartha, L'Art 1900: La Collection Neumann, New York, 1994, p. 128 (for a related example). J. T. Busch and C. L. Futter, Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs, 1851-1939, exh. cat., Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2012, p. 196, no. 9 (for a related example). Macklowe Gallery Curator's Notes: Eugène Feuillâtre’s career began in René Lalique’s enamelling...
Metal, Enamel
