Daum Cube
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Crystal
Late 20th Century French Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-Poche
Crystal
20th Century Abstract Sculptures
Paper
Early 2000s French Vases
People Also Browsed
20th Century French Modern Vases
Ceramic
Early 2000s American Modern Sofas
Leather, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Swedish Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Textile
2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
Silk
2010s Table Lamps
Iron
Vintage 1970s French Modern Ashtrays
Crystal
21st Century and Contemporary Sofas
Linen, Foam, Down
Vintage 1970s French Modern More Candle Holders
Crystal
1970s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Drypoint, Etching, Lithograph
Early 20th Century Jars
Ceramic, Porcelain
Vintage 1950s American Hollywood Regency Sofas
Fabric, Feathers
Late 20th Century Sofas
Chenille
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Sofas
Fabric, Down, Oak
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ashtrays
Murano Glass
Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Table Lamps
Wrought Iron
Mid-20th Century French Beaux Arts Animal Sculptures
Art Glass
Recent Sales
Vintage 1970s French Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass
Vintage 1980s French Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Crystal
20th Century French Modern Abstract Sculptures
Glass
2010s French Art Deco Vases
Blown Glass
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Glass
Daum for sale on 1stDibs
For collectors, Daum is a name in the first rank of the French makers of art glass, along with those of Émile Gallé and René Lalique. Led in its early decades by the brothers Auguste (1853–1909) and Antonin Daum (1864–1931), the company, based in the city of Nancy, established its reputation in the Art Nouveau period, and later successfully adopted the Art Deco style.
In 1878, lawyer Jean Daum took over the ownership of a glassworks as payment for a debt and installed his sons as proprietors. Initially, Daum made glass for everyday purposes such as windows, watches and tableware, but the success that Gallé enjoyed at the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris — the international showcase for which the Eiffel Tower was built — inspired the Daum brothers to begin making art-glass pieces. They produced popular works of cameo glass, a decorative technique in which an outer layer of glass is acid-etched or carved off to reveal the layer below, but Daum became best known for vessels and sculptures in pâte de verre — a painstaking method in which finely ground colored glass is mixed with a binder, placed in a mold and then fired in a kiln.
Though early Daum glass was never signed by individual artists, the firm employed some of the masters of the naturalistic, asymmetrical Art Nouveau style, including Jacques Grüber, Henri Bergé and Amalric Walter (whose first name is frequently misspelled). Daum also collaborated with furniture and metalware designer Louis Majorelle, who created wrought-iron and brass mounts for vases and table lamps. In the 1960s, Daum commissioned fine artists, most notably Salvador Dalí and sculptor César Baldaccini, to design glass pieces. As you see from the works offered on 1stDibs, Daum has been home to an astonishingly rich roster of creative spirits and is today a state-owned enterprise making pâte de verre figurines.