Emile Gallé Furniture

This exquisite Galle bat lamp is crafted from three-color cameo glass, featuring a delicate lavender-hued shade adorned with a golden finial, held aloft by th...

This "Chardons des Sables," or "Sand Thistle," multi-wood chest of drawers, by Émile Gallé, is a moving meditation on the artist's own mortality. T...

A French carved and fruitwood marquetry inlaid Ombelliféres vitrine by Emile Gallé. The vitrine has marquetry ombelle flowers in its interior and on the panel below the bottom shelf....

A French Art Nouveau two-tiered square pedestal with carved and marquetry decoration by Emile Gallé. The pedestal has two marquetry shelves depicting leaves. Its four sinuous legs ar...

A French Art Nouveau marquetry commode by Émile Gallé. With original key. Circa 1890. The syncretic influence of Japanese art is keenly felt in Gallé's commode. The beginning of Galle's fascination with Japanese art can be traced back to his friendship with Hokkai Takashima (1850-1931), a fellow botanist and member of the École de Nancy. Their botanical dialogue was facilitated by the Shokobutsu mei-i, a book of Japanese names for botanical species. It is from Hokkai that Gallé gained a spiritual and symbolic understanding of nature. Along with other École de Nancy artists, Hokkai and Gallé exhibited together in the display window of René Wiener's papeterie. The store served as the office of Wiener's arts journal, the Nancy artiste, which regularly featured on its covers contemporary examples of Gansai (Japanese watercolor), Byōbu (folding screens) from the Rinpa school, Sumi-e (ink painting), and Ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). As a show of gratitude, Hokkai bequeathed a vast art book collection to Wiener. It is from this record that we know with certainty of which Japanese artists Gallé had knowledge. One of the books in Hokkai's collection was Hokusai's Les cent paysages du Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei.) This 1835 expansion of Hokusai's 36 views of Mount Fuji...

This French Art Nouveau "Grenouilles" carved fruitwood cabinet by Émile Gallé features detailed and masterful marquetry depicting dragonflies and mushrooms in a lush, leafy landscape...

A French Art Nouveau games table by Emile Galle´, featuring inlaid fruitwood marquetry depicting thistles and card suit symbols. The table's apron has a series of carved card suit sy...

A French Art Nouveau glass and wood footed bowl by Emile Galle´, featuring a multicolored pinched-sided glass bowl in yellow, purple, and green. The bowl sits atop a carved walnut fo...