A small wrought-iron table lamp attributed to Marcel Vasseur with an orange “pate-de-verre” shade, engraved in the glass “Daum, Nancy, France” with Croix de Lorraine. France, c.1920.

Ht.30 cm/12.75ins

Provenance and pictures 4 & 5 attributed to Michiel Paravas

Picture 4 & 5: almost matching lampshade with matching wrought iron top and arms

Marcel Vasseur, Paris

• Marcel Vasseur was a blacksmith who had like E.Brandt and R.Subes had a large workshop in Paris

• Vasseur designed bespoke pieces privately for clients but also had a catalogue of designs for his own outlet and appeared at the prestigeous 1925  art décorative exhibit in Paris.

• Old catalogues show Marcel Vasseur used pate-de-verre shades by Daum, Muller and Schneider as well as shades in alabaster or art-deco glass by Muller Freres.

• Sadly pieces are nearly always unsigned however occasionally Vasseur bases or chandelier mounts are signed FAG.

• In1925 the designer Maurice Dufresne head of the design department La Maitrise of the large Galeries Lafayette invited Vasseur to sell his lamps in Lafayette. These pieces were signed FAG (for Feronnerie d’Art des Galleries).

Daum Frères, Nancy 1900,

• The famous Daum glass factory dates back to 1878 when Jean Daum a lawyer with no glass-making experience, took the Sainte-Catherine glass-works in Nancy as payment for an outstanding debt.

• His two sons soon became partners in the business, August in 1879 and Antonin in 1887.

• The 1889 World Exposition and the objects exhibited by Art Nouveau master Emile Gallé greatly inspired the Daum brothers and the “Daum Frères” glass factory was opened later that year.

• In 1901 Gallé founded the École de Nancy, the brothers soon became members and the glass-work produced by the firm helped establish Art Nouveau as a new era in decorative arts.

• Lighting was in its infancy as an art form and Daum collaborated with designers of metalwork such as Edgar Brandt and Louis Majorelle to produce creations of appropriate verve and originality.

• Daum along with Gallé are considered the premier French glass designers of the era.