Daum ceiling lamp, ca. 1930

DAUM ceiling lamp. Nancy, France, ca. 1930.
Gilt bronze and glass.
Signed lampshade.
Measurements: 67 x 37 x 37 cm.

Art Deco ceiling lamp consisting of a cameo glass bowl ornamented with plant motifs, held with gilded bronze chains. The upper boot is decorated with leaves worked in relief. During the Art Nouveau period, most Daum pieces were made of acid-etched cameo glass, but with the new Art Deco style, new techniques and decorative styles were investigated.

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 promoted 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.