“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.
$15,439Sale Price|20% Off
Original Art Nouveau Pedestal by Emile Galle 1890 French Antique Inlaid Table
By Émile Gallé
Located in Ijzendijke, NL
Breathtaking & Most rare! This French Art Nouveau Pedestal by famous designer Emile Galle with early signature circa 1890. Exquisite ...
Wood, Fruitwood, Rosewood
$4,512
H 27.96 in W 25.01 in D 18.31 in
Art Nouveau Marquetry Side Table by Émile Gallé, Walnut, France, 1900s
By Émile Gallé
Located in Amsterdam, NL
Stunning and elegant Art Nouveau marquetry side table. Design by Émile Gallé Original solid walnut base with four tapered legs. The original table top, which has been slightly bended...
Macassar, Walnut
Oak Art Nouveau Pedestal Table or Plant Stand, 1900s
Located in Amsterdam, NL
Magnificent and rare Art Nouveau pedestal table or plant stand. Striking Dutch design from the 1900s. Solid oak with original hand-carved elements. This wonderful Art Nouveau pedesta...
Oak
$1,495
H 41.5 in W 12.5 in D 13.5 in
Antique Art Nouveau Carved & Inlaid Two-Tier Plant Stand Pedestal, circa 1900
Located in Perkasie, PA
Description: A distinctive antique Art Nouveau two-tier plant stand or pedestal dating to circa 1900, featuring elegant proportions and finely executed floral decoration. The tall, ...
Hardwood
$2,193Sale Price|20% Off
H 27.96 in W 20.87 in D 19.69 in
Art Nouveau Side Table by Émile Gallé, Marquetry Wood, France, 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Bruxelles, BE
Elegant Art Nouveau tripod side table signed Gallé, featuring a distinctive shield-shaped top. The tabletop is richly decorated with fine marquetry depicting a thistle branch, an em...
Wood
Art Nouveau Emile Gallé "Cherry Blossom" Table
By Émile Gallé
Located in New York, NY
This carved mahogany and marquetry table by Émile Gallé features a cherry blossom–shaped top, inlaid with blossoming boughs and a violin. The floral imagery draws on the Yoshino cher...
Fruitwood
Art Nouveau Émile Gallé "Sagittaire" Guéridon
By Émile Gallé
Located in New York, NY
This exquisite two-tiered Japonist table by Émile Gallé features marquetry that juxtaposes a planar rendering of an arrowhead flower with a fully articulated botanical view of the pl...
Fruitwood, Rosewood
French Art Nouveau Wooden Pedestal by Emile Gallé
By Émile Gallé
Located in New York, NY
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...
Wood
French Art Nouveau Carved Wood Figural Pedestal Stand, c.1930s
By F. Moreau
Located in Perkasie, PA
Title: French Art Nouveau Carved Wood Figural Pedestal Stand, c.1930s Description: An impressive vintage French Art Nouveau-style carved wood pedestal stand dating to circa 1930s. T...
Wood
French Art Nouveau Game Table by Emile Galle
By Émile Gallé
Located in Bridgewater, CT
French Art Nouveau game table by Emile Galle.
Wood
$4,550
H 27.56 in W 22.84 in D 14.97 in
Émile Gallé Art Nouveau Set of Four Marquetry Nesting Tables, France, c. 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Ciudad Autónoma Buenos Aires, AR
A rare and beautifully preserved set of four Art Nouveau nesting tables, attributed to the workshop of Émile Gallé, Nancy, France, circa 1900. The largest tabletop bears a marquetry-...
Wood
Tony Selmersheim French Art Nouveau Two-Tier Clover Pedestal Table
By Tony Selmersheim
Located in Queens, NY
French Art Nouveau two-tier pedestal table with a lower shelf in a clover shape supporting a circular upper tier, connected by carved supports and resting on a carved 4 leg pedestal ...
Wood
$3,541
H 52.76 in W 15.75 in D 15.75 in
Art Nouveau Oak Pedestal Table, Belgium, Early 20th Century Design
Located in Brussels, BE
Art Nouveau oak harness, Belgium.
Oak
French Art Nouveau Wooden Pedestal by Emile Gallé
Located in New York, NY
A French Art Nouveau selette by Émile Gallé. Gallé made very few selettes of this quality and design during his career, and even fewer of those with curved lower pieces that reunite ...
Wood
$2,748
H 39.38 in W 15.75 in D 15.75 in
Antique Art Nouveau Hand-Carved Walnut Pedestal by Bonciani, Cascina, Tuscany
By Michele Bonciani
Located in Vigonza, Padua
Early 20th century Italy Art Nouveau hand-carved ebonized walnut pedestal by Bonciani - Cascina - Tuscany Polished with wax Measures cm: H 100 x W 40 x D 40 (H internal shelves 3...
Walnut
French Art Nouveau Ebonized Pedestal
Located in Queens, NY
French Art Nouveau ebonized pedestal with floral design and square fretwork top.