DAUM table lamp. Nancy, first third of the twentieth century.

DAUM table lamp. Nancy, first third of the twentieth century.
Bent glass.
Signed.
Measurements: 31 x 13 x 13 x 13 cm.

Table lamp entirely made of hot bent glass. The ornamental motif consists of lake landscapes in dark tones on orange backgrounds both in the foot and in the lampshade of conical section. They are worked in different layers, offering a pictorial result. Stylistically it belongs to a transitional period between Art Nouveau and Art Deco, a time when the Daum house perfected its hot glass molding techniques to create dynamic effects, as well as cameo techniques by sculpting overlapping layers, refining the details with engraving wheels.

The Daum manufacture was founded in the late 19th century by Augustin Daum (1853-1909), from a small family glassworks in Nancy. He would be joined by his brother Antonin (1864-1931), and Daum's workshops would soon after become a meeting and training place for many young artists, who gave impetus to the Art Nouveau style in Nancy. At first they made ordinary glass, but in 1891 they decided to open a decorative workshop and undertake artistic production, probably as a result of the success of Émile Gallé (1846-1904) at the 1889 Exhibition. Eventually, Daum will have a factory with more than three hundred employees and an artistic production of great variety. During World War I, the factory closed, but resumed production after the war, adapting to the change of aesthetics and leaving behind the modernism of its first period.