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Émile Gallé Sculptures

French, 1846-1904

“Art for art’s sake” was a belief strongly espoused by the celebrated French designer and glassworker Émile Gallé. Through his ethereal glass vases, other vessels and lamps, which he adorned with botanical and religious motifs, Gallé advanced the Art Nouveau ideology and led the modern renaissance of French glass.

Gallé was the son of successful faience and furniture maker Charles Gallé but studied philosophy and botany before coming to glassmaking later in life. The young Gallé’s expertise in botany, however, would inform his design style and become his signature for generations to come.

After learning the art of glassmaking, Gallé went to work at his father’s factory in Nancy. He initially created clear glass objects but later began to experiment with layering deeply colored glass.

While glassmakers on Murano had applied layers of glass and color on decorative objects before Gallé had, he was ever-venturesome in his northeastern France, taking advantage of defects that materialized during his processes and etching in natural forms like insects such as dragonflies, marine life, the sun, vines, fruits and flowers modeled from local specimens.

Gallé is also credited with reviving cameo glass, a glassware style that originated in Rome. He used cabochons, which were applied raised-glass decorations colored with metallic oxides and made to resemble rich jeweling. Gallé's cameo glass vases and vessels were widely popular at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, cementing his position as a talented designer and pioneer.

During the late 19th century, Gallé led breakthroughs in mass production and employed hundreds of artisans in his workshop.

Botany and nature remained great sources of inspiration for the artist's glassmaking — just as they had for other Art Nouveau designers. From approximately 1890 to 1910, the movement’s talented designers produced furniture, glass and architecture in the form of — or adorned with — gently intertwining trees, flowers and vines. But Gallé had many interests, such as Eastern art and ceramics. The Japanese collection he visited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (then the South Kensington Museum) during the 1870s had made an impression too.

Breaking free from the rigid Victorian traditions, Gallé infused new life and spirit into the art and design of his time through exquisitely crafted glass vessels and pioneering new glassworking techniques.

Find a collection of Émile Gallé vases and other furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.

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Creator: Émile Gallé
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Glass Vase entitled "Scenic Vase" by Emile Gallé
By Émile Gallé
Located in London, GB
An eye catching late 19th Century French cameo glass vase decorated with raised deep burgundy trees against a blue mountainous landscape against a variegating yellow field. Exhibitin...
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Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Sculptures

Materials

Glass

Midcentury Geometric Abstract Wall Sculpture in Gilt Bronze signed Emile Gilioli
By Émile Gallé
Located in New York, NY
This Mid-Century Modernist geometric abstract wall sculpture by Emile Gilioli is a rare and striking creation, crafted in gilt bronze and mounted on a sleek black acrylic base. Signe...
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1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Émile Gallé Sculptures

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Emile Galle scenic wheel carved and acid etched cameo vase. A beautiful and tall cameo vase by Galle. The 18 - 1/2” tall vase has a background of muted yellow glass near the base, which progresses to blue/gray at mid-vase, and then peach towards the top. Brown, cameo cut trees are generously displayed across the body of the vase, with the addition of a boat in the lake. Signed "Galle". Dimensions: 18 - 1/2” x 10” x 8”. Condition: Very good Émile Gallé (8 May 1846 in Nancy – 23 September 1904 in Nancy) was a French artist and designer who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major innovators in the French Art Nouveau movement. He was noted for his designs of Art Nouveau glass art and Art Nouveau furniture, and was a founder of the École de Nancy or Nancy School, a movement of design in the city of Nancy, France. Gallé born on 4 March 1846 in the city of Nancy, France. His father, Charles Gallé, was a merchant of glassware and ceramics who had settled in Nancy in 1844, and his father-in-law owned a factory in Nancy which manufactured mirrors. His father took over the direction of his mother's family business, and began to manufacture glassware with a floral design. He also took over a struggling faience factory and began manufacturing new products. The young Gallé studied philosophy and natural science at the Lycée Imperial in Nancy. At the age of sixteen he went to work for the family business as an assistant to his father, making floral designs and emblems for both faience and glass. In his spare time he became an accomplished botanist, studying with D.A. Godron, the director of the Botanical Gardens of Nancy and author of the leading textbooks on French flora. He collected plants from the region and from as far away as Italy and Switzerland. He also took courses in painting and drawing, and made numerous drawings of plants, flowers, animals and insects, which became subjects of decoration. At the age of sixteen he finished the Lycée in Nancy and went to Weimar in Germany from 1862–1866 to continue his studies in philosophy, botany, sculpture and drawing. In 1866, to prepare himself to inherit the family business, he went to work as an apprentice at the glass factory of Burgun and Schwerer in Meisenthal, and made a serious study of the chemistry of glass production. Some of his early glass and faience works for the family factory at Saint-Clémont were displayed at the 1867 Paris Universal Exposition. In early 1870 he designed a complete set of dishware with a rustic animal designs for the family enterprise. During this time he became acquainted with the painter, sculptor and engraver Victor Prouvé, an artist of the romantic "troubadour" style, who became his future collaborator in the Nancy School. He enlisted for military service in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, then was demobilised after the disastrous French defeat in 1871 and the French loss to Germany of much of the province of Lorraine, including Meisenthal where he had done his apprenticeship. Thereafter the Cross of Lorraine, the patriotic symbol of the region, became part of his signature on many of his works of art. After his demobilization Gallé went to London, where he represented his father at an exhibition of the arts of France, then to Paris, where he remained for several months, visiting the Louvre and Cluny Museum, studying examples of ancient Egyptian art, Roman glassware and ceramics, and especially early Islamic enamelled...
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Emile Galle Art Nouveau Original Glazed And Enameled Ceramic Cat. Circa 1895. I have owed 3 of these in the last 40 yrs and this one is very special. ...
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Pair of Faience Pottery Cats, Emile Galle Provenance Lord Iveagh Guinness Family
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Stunning rare pair of Faience glazed pottery models of a black and a white green-eyed seated cats by Emile Galle. Last quarter of the 19th century. Both whimsical models seated on their haunches and looking quizzically at the viewer. Condition: Good condition overall, tiny loss to glazing at one cats' ear. Firmly attributed to French Glass and furniture Designer Emile Galle, these pieces are unmarked as most of the earlier models were not. Measures: Height (taller black an impressive) 13.5" (34cm). Width (at base) 7.25" (18.5cm). Depth (at base) 5.75” (14.5cm). Location: Dublin City, Ireland. Provenance: Christies Auctions on the Premises, lot No.2310. Sale title: Elveden Hall...
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Late 19th Century Galle Faience Dog
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H 13.5 in W 5 in D 7 in
Pair of Large Antique Emile Galle Nancy French Faience or Majolica Mantel Lions
By Émile Gallé
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A matched pair of late 19th century Émile Gallé faience lions in blue. The lions are modeled standing erect on two feet holding a castle tower in t...
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Emile Galle Inlaid Marquetry Castle Tray, circa 1895
By Émile Gallé
Located in Dallas, TX
Important Emile Galle Marquetry tray. Signed Galle in marquetry bottom right. Glass will be included (Not shown in photos). Please view my other ...
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1890s French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Sculptures

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Wood

Emile Gallé sculptures for sale on 1stDibs.

Emile Gallé sculptures are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of pottery and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Emile Gallé sculptures, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Prices for Emile Gallé sculptures can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $9,000 and can go as high as $9,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $9,000.

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