Gallé Vase, 1905-1908

GALLÉ vase. France, 1905-1908.
Cameo glass.
Signed.
Measurements: 74 x 25 x 25 cm.
Gallé vase of Art Nouveau period made of cameo glass acid, with a naturalistic and asymmetrical plant design, based on large motifs, typical of the language of Gallé, on an iridescent yellow-orange background with mauve touches. Cameo glass has been known since ancient times, although it was revived at the end of the 19th century in France and England. Gallé presented his acid-etched cameo technique at the Paris Exhibition of 1889, with the aim of bringing modernist glass to the public. It was a form of decoration faster than the cameo engraved wheel, so the result was more affordable pieces, mass-produced but handmade, since no templates were used but the motif was drawn by hand on each piece. The cameo glass technique consists of blowing a bubble of two or more layers of glass of different colors, which are then carved or removed by acid re-melting the bottom, thus leaving the motif in relief, in the color of the top layer of glass.
The master glassmaker Emile Gallé (1846-1904) will take over the factory of his father in 1874, and soon achieve great international success, winning awards at international exhibitions and selling works to major collections and museums. Today, pieces made by Émile Gallé can be seen in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the Brohan Museum in Berlin and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, among many others.