A cameo-glass plafonnier by Émile Gallé in shades of blue and violet on a yellow ground, designed with hanging trumpet-shaped flowers and foliage: Complimented with the original bronze ceiling rose and fitments for suspension. Cameo signature “Gallé”; France c.1900.

Ht.52cm/20.5in, Diam.41/16

Émile Gallé (1846–1904)

• Émile Gallé was a glass maker, ceramist, and designer known as one of the most outstanding glass artists of the 19th-century. He is also regarded as the a pioneering artist of the Art Nouveau Movement.
• Gallé was born in Nancy, France, in the home of a faience and furniture manufacturer.
• As a young man, Gallé studied drawing, philosophy, and botany, and he later learned glassmaking at Meisenthal. He joined his father’s factory in Nancy, and, in 1873, he began to produce fine pottery, jewellery, and furniture in his own glass studio.
• In 1874, Gallé took over his father’s factory. His early work involved using clear glass decorated with enamel. He soon turned to using opaque glass etched with plant motifs in two or more colors.
• In 1878, Gallé received international recognition for his very elaborate glass-works at the Paris exhibition in France and later at the Paris exhibition in 1889, his glass art became the icon of the Art Nouveau movement.
•  In 1901, he formed the Art Nouveau Movement in collaboration with Louis Majorelle, Eugène Vallin, and others. His work was inspired by nature; he produced glass work that was clear, stratified, enameled, wheel-carved, or acid etched.
• He died in 1904, in Nancy, and his wife took over the running of the business until 1914, when war broke out. Gallé glassware, made mainly by acid etching, was produced until 1936 when the factory closed.