Skip to main content

Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

ART NOUVEAU STYLE

In its sinuous lines and flamboyant curves inspired by the natural world, antique Art Nouveau furniture reflects a desire for freedom from the stuffy social and artistic strictures of the Victorian era. The Art Nouveau movement developed in the decorative arts in France and Britain in the early 1880s and quickly became a dominant aesthetic style in Western Europe and the United States.

ORIGINS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN

CHARACTERISTICS OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGN

  • Sinuous, organic and flowing lines
  • Forms that mimic flowers and plant life
  • Decorative inlays and ornate carvings of natural-world motifs such as insects and animals 
  • Use of hardwoods such as oak, mahogany and rosewood

ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

ANTIQUE ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

Art Nouveau — which spanned furniture, architecture, jewelry and graphic design — can be easily identified by its lush, flowing forms suggested by flowers and plants, as well as the lissome tendrils of sea life. Although Art Deco and Art Nouveau were both in the forefront of turn-of-the-20th-century design, they are very different styles — Art Deco is marked by bold, geometric shapes while Art Nouveau incorporates dreamlike, floral motifs. The latter’s signature motif is the "whiplash" curve — a deep, narrow, dynamic parabola that appears as an element in everything from chair arms to cabinetry and mirror frames.

The visual vocabulary of Art Nouveau was particularly influenced by the soft colors and abstract images of nature seen in Japanese art prints, which arrived in large numbers in the West after open trade was forced upon Japan in the 1860s. Impressionist artists were moved by the artistic tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking, and Japonisme — a term used to describe the appetite for Japanese art and culture in Europe at the time — greatly informed Art Nouveau. 

The Art Nouveau style quickly reached a wide audience in Europe via advertising posters, book covers, illustrations and other work by such artists as Aubrey Beardsley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha. While all Art Nouveau designs share common formal elements, different countries and regions produced their own variants.

In Scotland, the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh developed a singular, restrained look based on scale rather than ornament; a style best known from his narrow chairs with exceedingly tall backs, designed for Glasgow tea rooms. Meanwhile in France, Hector Guimard — whose iconic 1896 entry arches for the Paris Metro are still in use — and Louis Majorelle produced chairs, desks, bed frames and cabinets with sweeping lines and rich veneers. 

The Art Nouveau movement was known as Jugendstil ("Youth Style") in Germany, and in Austria the designers of the Vienna Secession group — notably Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich — produced a relatively austere iteration of the Art Nouveau style, which mixed curving and geometric elements.

Art Nouveau revitalized all of the applied arts. Ceramists such as Ernest Chaplet and Edmond Lachenal created new forms covered in novel and rediscovered glazes that produced thick, foam-like finishes. Bold vases, bowls and lighting designs in acid-etched and marquetry cameo glass by Émile Gallé and the Daum Freres appeared in France, while in New York the glass workshop-cum-laboratory of Louis Comfort Tiffany — the core of what eventually became a multimedia decorative-arts manufactory called Tiffany Studios — brought out buoyant pieces in opalescent favrile glass. 

Jewelry design was revolutionized, as settings, for the first time, were emphasized as much as, or more than, gemstones. A favorite Art Nouveau jewelry motif was insects (think of Tiffany, in his famed Dragonflies glass lampshade).

Like a mayfly, Art Nouveau was short-lived. The sensuous, languorous style fell out of favor early in the 20th century, deemed perhaps too light and insubstantial for European tastes in the aftermath of World War I. But as the designs on 1stDibs demonstrate, Art Nouveau retains its power to fascinate and seduce.

There are ways to tastefully integrate a touch of Art Nouveau into even the most modern interior — browse an extraordinary collection of original antique Art Nouveau furniture on 1stDibs, which includes decorative objects, seating, tables, garden elements and more.

to
483
3,756
55
13
698
3,058
68
2,459
231
122
932
331
270
93
21
35
18
49
30
14
25,714
14,477
8,684
5,459
3,053
2,180
1,642
1,357
1,236
1,095
1,070
985
915
891
643
636
586
1,690
1,181
1,105
644
509
2,053
1,303
3,354
1,484
463
380
257
Height
to
Width
to
3,824
3,811
3,813
108
107
106
74
49
Style: Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau Southern French Fayance art pottery FLOOR VASE rare colours&pattern
Located in Landshut, BY
A giving joy beautiful French Fayence Floor Vase fantastic Art Nouveau pattern - Impressing Colours Manufacturer unknown - marked Design Period 1915 - 1925 Country of Manufacture : France H / height: 46 cm ~ Gew. / weight: 4550 grs DM / diameter max: 28 cm ~ DM oben / diameter inner rim: 19.8 cm .... an ode to Southern France A Legend of Provence by Adelaide Anne Procter (30 October 1825 – 2 February 1864) The lights extinguished, by the hearth I leant, Half weary with a listless discontent. The flickering giant-shadows, gathering near, Closed round me with a dim and silent fear. All dull, all dark; save when the leaping flame, Glancing, lit up a Picture's ancient frame. Above the hearth it hung. Perhaps the night, My foolish tremors, or the gleaming light, Lent power to that Portrait dark and quaint, — A Portrait such as Rembrandt loved to paint, — The likeness of a Nun. I seemed to trace A world of sorrow in the patient face, In the thin hands folded across her breast: — Its own and the room's shadow hid the rest. I gazed and dreamed, and the dull embers stirred, Till an old legend that I once had heard Came back to me; linked to the mystic gloom Of that dark Picture in the ghostly room. In the far south, where clustering vines are hung; Where first the old chivalric lays were sung; Where earliest smiled that gracious child of France, Angel and knight and fairy, called Romance, I stood one day. The warm blue June was spread Upon the earth; blue summer overhead, Without a cloud to fleck its radiant glare, Without a breath to stir its sultry air. All still, all silent, save the sobbing rush Of rippling waves, that lapsed in silver hush Upon the beach; where, glittering towards the strand The purple Mediterranean kissed the land. All still, all peaceful; when a convent chime Broke on the mid-day silence for a time, Then trembling into quiet, seemed to cease, In deeper silence and more utter peace. So as I turned to gaze, where gleaming white, Half hid by shadowy trees from passers' sight, The Convent lay, one who had dwelt for long In that fair home of ancient tale and song, Who knew the story of each cave and hill, And every haunting fancy lingering still Within the land, spake thus to me, and told The Convent's treasured Legend, quaint and old: — Long years ago, a dense and flowering wood, Still more concealed where the white convent stood, Borne on its perfumed wings the title came: " Our Lady of the Hawthorns " is its name. Then did that bell, which still rings out to-day, Bid all the country rise, or eat, or pray. Before that convent shrine, the haughty knight Passed the lone vigil of his perilous fight; For humbler cottage strife or village brawl, The Abbess listened, prayed, and settled all. Young hearts that came, weighed down by love or wrong, Left her kind presence comforted and strong. Each passing pilgrim, and each beggar's right Was food, and rest, and shelter for the night. But, more than this, the Nuns could well impart The deepest mysteries of the healing art; Their store of herbs and simples was renowned, And held in wondering faith for miles around. Thus strife, love, sorrow, good and evil fate, Found help and blessing at the convent gate. Of all the nuns, no heart was half so light, No eyelids veiling glances half as bright, No step that glided with such noiseless feet, No face that looked so tender or so sweet, No voice that rose in choir so pure, so clear, No heart to all the others half so dear, So surely touched by others' pain or woe, (Guessing the grief her young life could not know,) No soul in childlike faith so undefiled, As Sister Angela's, the " Convent Child. " For thus they loved to call her. She had known No home, no love, no kindred, save their own. An orphan, to their tender nursing given, Child, plaything, pupil, now the Bride of Heaven And she it was who trimmed the lamp's red light That swung before the altar, day and night; Her hands it was whose patient skill could trace The finest broidery, weave the costliest lace; But most of all, her first and dearest care, The office she would never miss or share, Was every day to weave fresh garlands sweet, To place before the shrine at Mary's feet. Nature is bounteous in that region fair, For even winter has her blossoms there. Thus Angela loved to count each feast the best, By telling with what flowers the shrine was dressed. In pomp supreme the countless Roses passed, Battalion on battalion thronging fast, Each with a different banner, flaming bright, Damask, or striped, or crimson, pink, or white, Until they bowed before a newborn queen, And the pure virgin Lily rose serene. Though Angela always thought the Mother blest Must love the time of her own hawthorn best, Each evening through the years, with equal care, She placed her flowers; then kneeling down in prayer, As their faint perfume rose before the shrine, So rose her thoughts, as pure and as divine. She knelt until the shades grew dim without, Till one by one the altar lights...
Category

1910s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Pottery

Antique Swiss Black Forest Wood and Marble Lucerne Lion Carving
Located in Newark, England
Mounted on a Black Marble Plinth From our Black Forest collection, we are delighted to introduce this Swiss Black Forest Lucerne Lion Carving. The Lucern...
Category

Late 19th Century Swiss Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Marble

Sculpture Giant Amphora Vase Majolica Hand Painted Four Seasons Art Nouveau
Located in Recanati, IT
Majestic amphora in glazed majolica, handmade and hand painted in central Italy. On the amphora are represented, in great detail, the four seasons personified by graceful women surro...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Italian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic, Majolica

Vase with etched Decoration Josef Hoffmann Loetz ca. 1911 Jugendstil Black White
Located in Klosterneuburg, AT
vase, Josef Hoffmann, Johann Loetz Witwe, Weiss Opal außen Schwarz decoration, glass, mould-blown, etched, ca. 1911 Hoffmann's vase designs from the 1910s are characterized above al...
Category

1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Brass

LE GRAS - ART NOUVEAU Blown glass ball vase
Located in TEYJAT, FR
LE GRAS - ART NOUVEAU Blown glass ball vase with fluted edge decorated with art nouveau scrolls and organic floral design. Gilt decoration to the rim and on the design. In lovely c...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Tortoiseshell & Silver Clock Douglas Clock Co
Located in Northampton, GB
Shaped as a Conductors Lantern From our Accessories collection, we are pleased to offer this English Tortoiseshell Lantern Clock. The Clock with a large white dial with black numera...
Category

Early 20th Century Scottish Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Silver

Daum Nancy Art Nouveau Vase
By Daum
Located in NANTES, FR
Art Nouveau vase circa 1900. Grisaille landscape decoration on an opalescent acid-etched background. Note a small chip on the neck the size of a needle head. Height: 13.4 cm Base dia...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Art Nouveau Vase, signed by Loetz, 1910
Located in Zurich, CH
The vase by Loetz from around 1910, features white glass with a red overlay and is intricately etched with a rose motif. The leafs of the rose stand out in light pinkish to deep purp...
Category

1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Large Joseph Maria Olbrich Candleholder, Kayserzinn Reproduction, 1980s Design
By Eduard Hueck, Kayserzinn 1
Located in Bad Säckingen, DE
This impressive candleholder is a striking reproduction of a design by the renowned Austrian architect and designer Joseph Maria Olbrich, produced by Kayserzinn in the 1980s. Crafted...
Category

1980s German Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Pewter

Iridescent Art Nouveau Foliage Vase w/Silver Mount by Clement Massier
Located in Chicago, US
Note: We highly recommend shipping through 1stDibs for its cost effectiveness, full insurance coverage, and reliable handling. While standard parcel services are an option, the defau...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Silver

French Art Nouveau Pair of Large Terracotta Vases, circa 1910
Located in Traversetolo, IT
A stunning French Art Nouveau pair of large vases with female figures of the era, circa 1910.
Category

1910s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Terracotta

Lidded Canister with Handle, Elaborate Repoussé & Enamel Work, Munich Secession
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Crafted by Ludwig Vierthaler for the Josef Winhart metalwork company in Munich, this gorgeous and singular lidded canister displays the bravura repoussé work that the artist is known for. Winhart hammered elaborate Secession-style swirls and geometric patterns into the sides and lid of this piece, and enriched the lid with midnight blue and ruddy brown enamels. The entire piece has a subtle hammered finish and a streaky patina that gives the surface great depth of color. Interestingly, Vierthaler spent years as a metalsmith at Tiffany and Company in New York...
Category

1910s German Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Copper, Enamel

Émile Gallé (1846-1904) French Art Nouveau Glass Vase « Magnolias» circa 1900
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Émile Gallé (1846-1904) French Art Nouveau Caméo Glass Vase «Magnolias » circa 1900 A multilayer deep red and yellow glass vase with acid-etched and wheel-engraved decoration. Desig...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Loetz, Glass "Titania" Silver Overlay Art Nouveau Vase, Swirl Green, Blue
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Beautiful vase in swirl Titania glass and overlay silver, This is a rare antique vase.
Category

Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Antique Sculpture Ice Bear On Blue Ball Signed Franz Barwig Glazed Ceramic
By Franz Barwig
Located in Munich, DE
This wonderful sculpture of an ice bear playing with a blue ball is a design by the Austrian Sculptor Franz Barwig (1868 - 1931) dating to 1915-1920. The sculpture was executed by th...
Category

1910s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic

One-of-a-Kind Floral Royal Copenhagen Bowl, 1940s
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Unique Danish Art Nouveau Royal Copenhagen bowl, circa 1940s. Stunning hand-painted naturalistic depictions of flowers, leaves and stems in dark brown, warm yellow and green colors o...
Category

Mid-20th Century Danish Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic, Faience, Porcelain

Art Nouveau Pulled Feather Iridescent Glass Vase
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A beautiful Art Nouveau Iridescent Glass Vase in Blue, Green and Amethyst with Gilt decorated Pulled Feather decoration. The vase is of a lovely form, the perfect height for a decora...
Category

Early 20th Century European Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

A nice and early floral art nouveau Vase by Legras Saint Denis, ca. 1895
Located in Aachen, DE
Saint Denis / Legras Vase Pois de senteur, A French cameo glass, optical blown into a mold then formed freely on the pipe, cased with a green overlay, acid etched to a decor of pea p...
Category

1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Optical Glass

Émile Gallé (1846-1904), Rare Cameo Glass Vase 'Basilique Saint-Nicolas-de-Port'
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Émile Gallé (1846-1904) Rare and Important Galle French Cameo Glass Vase Cased glass, opalescent, colorless, yellow and blue, acid-etched design with the Basilica of St Nicolas de P...
Category

1910s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Sculpture in bronze and marble base, Art Nouveau period, circa 1900.
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Sculpture by Emmanuel Villanis in bronze and marble base, Art Nouveau period, circa 1900. H: 40cm, W: 21cm, D: 15cm
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Masterpiece, rare vase, amphore, Ernst Wahliss, 1900 Art Nouveau, Turn Austria
Located in Wien, AT
This stunning vase was made by Thurn Teplitz Porcelain, with support from designer Ernst Wahliss (1837 - 1900). The vase is in amphora shape, hand painted and has the early mark on the underside. The porcelain vase is ivory colored with light green and brown painting...
Category

1890s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Early 20th Cent Pug Dog Austrian Vienna Bronze Miniature Figure on Marble Base
Located in Nuernberg, DE
Classic early 1910s or older Vienna bronze figurine. This polychromed cold painted bronze is probably something you need if you’re a Vienna bronze collector. Found at an estate sale ...
Category

Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Edgar Brandt Style Hand Forged Iron Snake or Serpent Sculpture, Austria, 1920s
Located in Vienna, AT
A wrought iron Art Nouveau era model of a snake / serpent. High-quality craftsmanship, handmade of forged iron by a Viennese metalworker in the 1920s. A decorative object, which would look great in your shelf, but also suitable as a paperweight, a jewelry ring holder...
Category

1920s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Iron, Wrought Iron

Piano Baby Girls with Toys Bisque Porcelain Figurine Hutschenreuther, 1910s
Located in Nuernberg, DE
Gorgeous pair of vintage antique bisque porcelain Figures by Hutschenreuther, Germany, circa 1910s. Tallest measures approximate 4 1/2" high a...
Category

1910s German Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Art Nouveau Gres Bijou Butterfly & Spiderweb Bowl-Shaped Vase by RStK Amphora
Located in Chicago, US
Note: We highly recommend shipping through 1stDibs for its cost effectiveness, full insurance coverage, and reliable handling. While standard parcel services are an option, the defau...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Earthenware, Glass

Art Nouveau walnut chest with embossed bronze and gemstone decoration
Located in TEYJAT, FR
Very pretty rectangular walnut chest with embossed bronze decoration in the Art Nouveau style, depicting scrolls, scarab beetles, foliage and flowers - a typical organic style which ...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Multi-gemstone, Bronze

French Art Nouveau Silver Plate Bowl with with Floral Details
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Beautiful Silver plate Art Nouveau Decorative Bowl or Center piece. The curvaceous floral and vine details give the the classic art nouveau. A wonderful Vessel for a unique floral a...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Silver Plate

Art Nouveau Desk Set by Tiffany Calendar, Ink Dryer, Box and Clip
Located in Schöfflisdorf, CH
Art Nouveau desk set by Tiffany calendar, ink dryer, box and clip Sizes: Measures: Perpetual calendar 16 x 16 cm Box 10 x 7 x 4 cm Clip 6 x 10 x 3...
Category

Early 20th Century American Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Brass

Aristede De Ranieri Signed Art Nouveau Sculptural Mantel or Table Clock
Located in Hamilton, Ontario
Thia antique mantel or table clock was made by the well known Italian born sculptor Archimede de Ranieri, who did much of his work in France and made this in approximately 1900 in th...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Metal

Antique Bronze Hirondelle Blessee Alfred Foretay Garniture Mantel Clock & Urns
By Alfred Jean Foretay
Located in Dayton, OH
Antique three piece set garniture clock made of bronze with green marble bases and gilt feet. Mantel clock features the sculpture Hirondelle Blessee by Alfred Jean Foretay above a gilt framed, white porcelain clock...
Category

Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Marble, Bronze

l.c.t Tiffany Studios Jack in the Pulpit Favrile Floriform Vase
Located in Dallas, TX
This tall and rare Tiffany Studios jack in the pulpit vase has an inverted saucer foot with opalescent wafer transition stem to ...
Category

Early 1900s American Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Riessner & Kessel Amphora Turn Teplitz Two-Handled Vase with Iridized Glaze
Located in Cincinnati, OH
This striking amphora Art Nouveau vase was made in the Turn-Teplitz region of Bohemia by Riessner, Stellmacher & Kessel, established in 1892. The vase has an ovoid form with a thick molded floral and foliate band located at the neck. The body of the vase rests upon a raised pedestal foot decorated with a series of intertwined stylized roots. The neck and foot have been glazed in a matte green color with burnished gold highlights. The body of the vase is flanked by a pair of arched gilded handles made in the form of naturalistic woody branches. The body of the vase has been finished in a mottled matte glaze executed in a dull gold color enabling the cream color beneath to show through. The center of the vase transitions to a violet hue which is covered by a high glaze iridescent band having pink and purple undertones. The iridescent band features an armorial crest executed in black accented with gilded details. The crest itself consists of a checkerboard shield surmounted by a trio of stylized flowers with a spade motif, all of which are flanked by lions rampant. The design includes a series of large dots arrayed in a symmetrical manner. The opposite side of the vase echoes the motif found on the front and has a checkerboard shield, nine spade-shaped flowers and several dots. The vase is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks or repairs. As an antique item, the piece shows minor signs of age and use consisting of wear to the gilded decoration. The vase stands 11.75" tall and is 2.25" across the mouth. The foot is just over 5" in diameter and bears impressed marks including a circular ''Imperial Amphora Turn...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Zsolnay Pecs Art Nouveau Eosin Metallic Vase
Located in NANTES, FR
Zsolnay factory tulip vase. 80s reissue by Miss Eszter Jorok. Numbered 5495. Vase from the 1899 Tulip series. Vase in perfect condition, note a small c...
Category

20th Century Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic

Majolica Iris Jardiniere Jerome Massier Fils, circa 1900
Located in Austin, TX
Small purple French Majolica iris oval jardiniere signed Jerome Massier Fils, circa 1900. The Massier family are known for the quality of their unique enamels and paintings. They pr...
Category

1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic, Majolica

Bohemian Glass Vase Loetz Cytisus Red Green Orange Gold circa 1902 Art Nouveau
Located in Klosterneuburg, AT
Austrian Jugendstil, floral glass vase, manufactured by Johann Loetz Witwe, red, green, orange, gold, circa 1902, "Cytisus Neuroth" decoration, bohemian glass, Austria The "Cytisu...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Art Nouveau Barbotine Vases, 1900s, France
Located in Lisbon, PT
A three pieces set of a cachepot and two vases in olive green ceramic decorated with flowers in the Barbotine style faiançe with Interior in bluish green ceramic. 'B FRANCE 50_2 ' ma...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic

Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Glass "Hearts and Vines Vase" by Louis Tiffany
Located in London, GB
An impressive early 20th Century American iridescent glass vase of slender form with green hearts shining through an attractive golden iridescence, signed L C Tiffany Favrile and numbered to base. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Height: 23 cm Condition: Very Good Condition Circa: 1905 Materials: Iridescent Coloured Glass SKU: 6667 ABOUT Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements. Tiffany was affiliated with a prestigious collaborative of designers known as the Associated Artists, which included Lockwood de Forest, Candace Wheeler, and Samuel Colman. Tiffany designed stained glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, jewellery, enamels and metalwork. Early Life He was born in New York City, New York, the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany and Company; and Harriet Olivia Avery Young. He attended school at Pennsylvania Military Academy in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Eagleswood Military Academy in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. His first artistic training was as a painter, studying under George Inness in Eagleswood, New Jersey and Samuel Colman in Irvington, New York. He also studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1866-67 and with salon painter Leon-Adolphe-Auguste Belly in 1868-69. Belly’s landscape paintings had a great influence on Tiffany. Career Louis started out as a painter, but became interested in glassmaking from about 1875 and worked at several glasshouses in Brooklyn between then and 1878. In 1879, he joined with Candace Wheeler, Samuel Colman and Lockwood de Forest to form Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated American Artists. The business was short-lived, lasting only four years. The group made designs for wallpaper, furniture, and textiles. He later opened his own glass factory in Corona, New York, determined to provide designs that improved the quality of contemporary glass. Tiffany’s leadership and talent, as well as his father’s money and connections, led this business to thrive. In 1881 Tiffany did the interior design of the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, which still remains, but the new firm’s most notable work came in 1882 when President Chester Alan Arthur refused to move into the White House until it had been redecorated. He commissioned Tiffany, who had begun to make a name for himself in New York society for the firm’s interior design work, to redo the state rooms, which Arthur found charmless. He worked on the East Room, the Blue Room, the Red Room, the State Dining Room and the Entrance Hall, refurnishing, repainting in decorative patterns, installing newly designed mantelpieces, changing to wallpaper with dense patterns and, of course, adding Tiffany glass to gaslight fixtures, windows and adding an opalescent floor-to-ceiling glass screen in the Entrance Hall. The Tiffany screen and other Victorian additions were all removed in the Roosevelt renovations of 1902, which restored the White House interiors to Federal style in keeping with its architecture. A desire to concentrate on art in glass led to the breakup of the firm in 1885 when Tiffany chose to establish his own glassmaking firm that same year. The first Tiffany Glass Company was incorporated December 1, 1885 and in 1902 became known as the Tiffany Studios. In the beginning of his career, he used cheap jelly jars and bottles because they had the mineral impurities that finer glass lacked. When he was unable to convince fine glassmakers to leave the impurities in, he began making his own glass. Tiffany used opalescent glass in a variety of colors and textures to create a unique style of stained glass. He developed the “copper foil” technique, which, by edging each piece of cut glass in copper foil and soldering the whole together to create his windows and lamps, made possible a level of detail previously unknown. This can be contrasted with the method of painting in enamels or glass paint on colorless glass, and then setting the glass pieces in lead channels, that had been the dominant method of creating stained glass for hundreds of years in Europe. (The First Presbyterian Church building of 1905 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is unique in that it uses Tiffany windows that partially make use of painted glass.) Use of the colored glass itself to create stained glass pictures was motivated by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement and its leader William Morris in England. Fellow artists and glassmakers Oliver Kimberly and Frank Duffner, founders of the Duffner and Kimberly Company and John La Farge were Tiffany’s chief competitors in this new American style of stained glass. Tiffany, Duffner and Kimberly, along with La Farge, had learned their craft at the same glasshouses in Brooklyn in the late 1870s. In 1889 at the Paris Exposition, he is said to have been “Overwhelmed” by the glass work of Émile Gallé, French Art Nouveau artisan. He also met artist Alphonse Mucha. In 1893, Tiffany built a new factory called the Stourbridge Glass Company, later called Tiffany Glass Furnaces, which was located in Corona, Queens, New York, hiring the Englishman Arthur J. Nash to oversee it. In 1893, his company also introduced the term Favrilein conjunction with his first production of blown glass at his new glass factory. Some early examples of his lamps were exhibited in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. At the Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris, he won a gold medal with his stained glass windows The Four Seasons He trademarked Favrile (from the old French word for handmade) on November 13, 1894. He later used this word to apply to all of his glass, enamel and pottery. His first commercially produced lamps date from around 1895. Much of his company’s production was in making stained glass windows and Tiffany lamps, but his company designed a complete range of interior decorations. At its peak, his factory employed more than 300 artisans. Recent scholarship led by Rutgers professor Martin Eidelberg suggests that a team of talented single women designers – sometimes referred to as the “Tiffany Girls” – led by Clara Driscoll played a big role in designing many of the floral patterns on the famous Tiffany...
Category

Early 20th Century American Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Art Nouveau writing accessoire Carl Witzmann Wiener Werkstätte 1917
Located in Klosterneuburg, AT
Writing accessoire with two inkwells, model no. 2216 - Mszas 2, Carl Witzmann, Wiener Werkstätte, 1917 Bib.: photograph preserved in the Wiener Werktätte photo archives at the Austr...
Category

Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Silver

Antique Glass Vase Koloman Moser Loetz Purple 1903 Vienna Jugendstil
Located in Klosterneuburg, AT
Vase, Koloman Moser, Johann Loetz Witwe for E. Bakalowits' Söhne, Violetta decoration, 1903 Among the most important glass objects from the Lötz manufactory are undoubtedly those from the series created in cooperation with E. Bakalowits Söhne. As a professor at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna, Koloman Moser influenced an entire generation of designers and architects. Under his guidance, he and his students created ultra-modern glassware...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass

Early 20th Century Kayserzinn Art Nouveau Pewter Dragonfly Tray by Hugo Leven
Located in New York, NY
A Beautiful Early 20th Century Kayserzinn German Art Nouveau Pewter Dragonfly Tray by Hugo Leven. Overall excellent condition with age appropriate wear.
Category

Early 20th Century German Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Pewter

Art Nouveau Bronze Bust by Alfred Jean Foretay Circa 1900
By Alfred Jean Foretay
Located in Hoddesdon, GB
Art Nouveau bronze bust , circa 1900 Alfred Jean Foretay, 1861-1944, A renowned artist of the late 19th and early 20th century . A beautifully detailed cold-painted white bronz...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Small Majolica Cache Pot Jerome Massier Fils, circa 1890
Located in Austin, TX
French purple Majolica Cache Pot Jerome Massier Fils, circa 1890. Height / 3.8 inches. Diameter / 5.8 inches.
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Ceramic

Vintage Silver Plate Horseshoe Jockey Catchall, 1920s
Located in Nuernberg, DE
Gorgeous silver plated, 1920s small pot with a horseshoe and some horse race related items. Think it can be used at a table for paperclips, toothpicks, matchsticks or just as a open salt pot...
Category

1920s Austrian Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Metal, Silver Plate

Burza 'The Storm' by Boleslaw Biegas - Art Nouveau Bronze Sculpture
Located in Chicago, US
Boleslaw Biegas was one of a large number of Polish artists working in fin-de-siecle Paris. There he found a more kindred artistic environment in which...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Art Nouveau Style Antique Edwardian Sterling Silver Bowl - Hallmarked in 1905
Located in London, London
Hallmarked in Sheffield in 1905 by Fenton Brothers Ltd., this handsome, Edwardian, Antique Sterling Silver Bowl, features Art Nouveau influenced detailing. The bowl measures 4"(10cm)...
Category

Early 1900s English Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Sterling Silver

Art Nouveau vase by Auguste Moreau
Located in Belgrade, RS
This tall vase of baluster form is made of silver-plated pewter and it is the embodiment of the charm, allure, and sophistication of the French Art Nouveau style. The vase is made an...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Silver Plate, Pewter

Art Nouveau Nude Fairy on Marble Base, Franz Rosse, German (1858-1900)
By Franz Rosse
Located in Petaluma, CA
This lovely bronze is the epitome of art nouveau movement. The stylized nature themes, flowers, movement, and a young girl who has butterfly wings and is holding a bird in her hand....
Category

1890s German Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Marble, Bronze

Art Nouveau Pâte de Verre Sculpture paperweight "Lizard" by Amalric Walter Nancy
Located in Benalmadena, ES
This exceptional sculpture, signed "A. Walter Nancy" exemplifies the essence of Art Nouveau at its finest. Crafted in pâte de verre—a technique that blends powdered glass and pigment...
Category

1920s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Art Nouveau Bamboo and Bird Design Glass and Bronze Vase
Located in Vienna, AT
For sale is a special vase made by Baccarat. Fine engraved elephant tooth shaped heavy glass in fitted in a heavy brass mounting.The slightly bent glass...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Jumping Faun Lily Tray
Located in Chelmsford, Essex
Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre Lily Tray, shape number 2483. Decorated with 'Jumping Faun' pattern to interior, 'Flight of Birds' to exterior. 'Pebble and Grass' border to exterior rim an...
Category

1920s Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Pottery

Kayserzinn Art Nouveau Pewter Pitcher with Devils Head
Located in Hamilton, Ontario
German Kayserzinn pewter wine/water pitcher or jug with Art Nouveau style low relief iris decoration centered by a Devils head under the spout and a ...
Category

Early 20th Century German Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Pewter

Wonderful French Lady Figure Art Nouveau Ormolu-Mounted Gilt Bronze Crystal Vase
Located in Roslyn, NY
Wonderful French lady figure Art Nouveau ormolu-mounted gilt bronze crystal vase Measures: 11" tall.  
Category

1930s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Crystal, Bronze

Emperor Wilhelm II. Sculpture Bust on Marble Base Antique German, 1900s
Located in Nuernberg, DE
A classic very decorative bronze statue by an unknown Maker depicting Emperor Wilhelm II. from Prussia Germany. Born January 1859 in Berlin; † 4. Juni 1941 in Doorn, Netherlands - he...
Category

Early 1900s German Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Marble, Metal

KPM Berlin Sailer Porcelain Vase Siegmund Schütz
Located in Vienna, AT
Porcelain vase white porcelain with glossy glaze, designed by Siegmund Schütz in 1951.
Category

1950s German Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Early 1900 Luigi Secchi Birds Italian Bronze Sculpture Bowl
Located in Brescia, IT
Birds Luigi Secchi Italy, 1890-1910 Bronze Sculpture Bowl "L Secchi" engraved
Category

Early 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Secessionist Bronze Icon Vase by Gustav Gurschner
Located in Chicago, US
GUSTAV GURSCHNER (Austrian, 1873-1970), a sculptor, attended the School of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1888. Working under several artists, his time in Paris in 1897 proved to be most ...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Jeweled Art Nouveau Repoussé Clock by Alfred Daguet, with Original Mechanisim
Located in Chicago, US
Alfred Louis Achille DAGUET (1875 - 1942) was a metalsmith active in Paris during the first part of the 20th century. His metalwork created prior to the outbreak of World War I, note...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Brass, Copper

Antique Danish Christmas Porcelain Decorative Plate by Aluminia, 1908
Located in Asaa, DK
Antique Danish Christmas porcelain decorative plate by Aluminia 1908. Large christmas plate by Aluminia ( later Royal Copenhagen ) in hand painted...
Category

Early 1900s Danish Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Faience

Tapered Gold Aurene Art Glass Vase, Lundberg Studios, California, Signed
Located in San Francisco, CA
Striking tapered gold aurene art glass vase made by Lundberg Studios, California. Signed in 2000, this vase has a beautiful finish and is in good cond...
Category

Early 2000s American Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Loetz Art Nouveau Iridescent Vase with Leafing Silver Overlay
Located in New York, NY
Art Nouveau glass vase with engraved silver overlay by historic Loetz, ca 1900. Baluster with silver meandering leafing branch. Glass iridescent gold and purple with vertical oleagin...
Category

Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Silver

E.Gallé (1846-1904) French Art Nouveau Cameo Glass Vase « Anemones» circa 1900
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Émile Gallé (1846-1904) French Art Nouveau Caméo Glass Vase « Anemones » circa 1900 Rare Galle French cameo glass vase in dark blue over yellow Blue Anemones flowers design Signed in cameo Gallé Émile Gallé was born in Nancy on 4 May 1846, the only son of Charles Gallé...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Antique Paul Dachsel for Riessner, Stellmacher and Kessel Amphora Porcelain Vase
Located in Cincinnati, OH
This early 20th century Art Nouveau porcelain vase was designed by Paul Dachsel for Riessner, Stellmacher & Kessel Amphora of Turn-Teplitz, Bohemia. The piece has an organic squash-like form and features Dachsel's distinctive ribbed mouth design at the top. The body of the vase is flanked by two delicate arched arms with reticulated detail. This ivory porcelain vase has a blush colored body with gilt accents at the foot and handles. The front and back piece have been hand-painted with a floral motif in a Japanese style and feature the images of gilt accented purple orchids with long green leaves. The ribbed mouth is finished in a matte green that echoes the color of the foliage and also has gilt highlights. An example of this shape with similar decoration can be seen on page 66 of Richard L. Scott's 'Ceramics From The House Of Amphora 1890-1915. The vase is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks or repairs. As an antique item, the piece shows appropriate signs of age consisting of wear to the gilded decoration. The vase stands just over 6" tall and is 2" as measured from the furthest points of the mouth. The foot is just over 2" in diameter and bears the RStK burnt in mark reading "RStK TURN Teplitz...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Large Art Nouveau Cameo Vase, After Émile Gallé
Located in North Palm Beach, FL
This exquisite cameo vase after Émile Gallé displays a rich amber hue displaying high relief design of leaves and flowers. The intricate details and subtle color variations exemplify...
Category

1970s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Loetz Papillon Glass And Van Houten Pewter Vase
Located in Dallas, TX
Loetz Mixed Cobalt, Green and Red Papillon Glass Vase. A rare mixed color Iridescent papillon Art Nouveau art glass vase mounted with a scrolled pewter mount in wonderful condition ready to join as the crown of your collection. Rubin (Ruby) Papillon Decor Czech Republic Circa 1900 Pewter mount with impressed stamp marks "1670" and crow and lion in shield marks for the Van Houten Manufacturing Co. Height: 10.5 Inches X 5 Inch diameter Condition: Excellent in original condition commensurate of age and use. The Loetz glassworks existed in Klostermuhle, Austria, for just over a hundred years, starting from 1840. But its heyday was during the life-time of Max Ritter Von Spaun, grandson of the original Johann Loetz who had founded the company. Von Spaun took over the company in 1879 and ran it until 1908, a year before his death. He was assisted by Eduard Prochaska, his technical specialist, and together they invented, designed and produced a whole series of wonderful new types of glass, taking out several patents and winning awards at all the major world exhibitions during the 1890's and the first years of the new century. The Loetz company were amongst the leaders in Art Nouveau design and expecially in irridescent art glass. "Papillon" glass, like the vase on the left, is sometimes known today as "oil spot" glass. Another favourite Loetz colouring was irridized glass with pulled trails called "Phenomenon" glass. There were irridized vases with ribbons of metallic colours winding over the surface, and many spectacular designs with applied trails of beautiful colours, or simply pulled out of the body of the glass to form handles or decoration. About 1900 the company started collaborating with outside designers, and some great artists designed pieces for Lotz, notably Joseph Hofmann, Koloman Moser, Maria Kirchner, and Hofstatter. In 1908 Loetz was taken over by Max Von Spaun's son, also called Max, and although it struggled financially (going through bankruptcy in 1911 and again in 1931) there were several great designers whose work was produced by Loetz during those years and through the art deco period. These included Adolf Beckert...
Category

Early 1900s Czech Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Pewter

Bohemian Art Nouveau Metal Mounted Iridescent Art Glass Vase
Located in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire
A stunning Bohemian Art Nouveau blue iridescent art glass vase with metal mounts attributed to Rindskopf, Kralik or Palme Konig and dating from around 1900. This elegantly shaped han...
Category

Early 1900s Austrian Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Metal

Rare Galle cameo glass aquatic butterfly vase C1900
Located in Devon, GB
Lovely little Emile Galle multi layered cameo glass vase decorated with an aquatic scene around the bottom section of the vase with pond lilies and reeds. The tops section interestin...
Category

Early 1900s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Glass

Italian Pair of Rooster Figures 20th Century Art Nouveau Animalier Sculptures
Located in Milano, MI
Pair of antique Italian rooster sculptures, hand-made in Italy in the early 20th century, in the Art Nouveau period, inspired to the Animalier style, ...
Category

Early 20th Century Italian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

Antique 1893 Amelia Sprague Rookwood Gorham Sterling Silver Overlay Vase 12"
Located in Dayton, OH
A rare, very large, and impressive antique Rookwood and Gorham mantel vase by Amelia Sprague. It features Art Nouveau style pinecone / pine tree theme with sterling silver overlaid ...
Category

1890s American Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Sterling Silver

Lalique Crystal Mesange Flower Vase
Located in Guaynabo, PR
This is a Lalique Crystal Mesange flower vase. It depicts a vase with an hexagonal base followed by a stem shaped as a wreath. The wreath is made of periwinkles flowers decorated in the center by two chickadees birds...
Category

20th Century French Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Crystal

E.Gallé (1846-1904) "Fleurs de Pommier "Soufflé Glass Vase circa 1910
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Émile Gallé (1846-1904) French Art Nouveau Cameo Mold Blown Glass Vase « Fleurs de Pommier » circa 1910 Beautiful and very rare Art Nouveau molded-blowned g...
Category

1910s French Vintage Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Art Glass

Kai Nielsen '1882-1924' Bing & Grondhal Porcelain Mother & Child Sculpture
Located in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire
A stylish Danish porcelain Mother & Child sculptural figure designed by Kai Nielsen (1882-1924) for Bing & Grondhal and dating from the early 20th century. The figure portraying a na...
Category

Early 1900s Danish Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Porcelain

Antique Austrian Franz Bergman Cold Painted Bronze Peacock Sculpture Statue 1920
Located in Portland, OR
A fine antique Austrian Art Nouveau coldpainted bronze sculpture of a peacock by Franz Bergman, Vienna, circa 1920. The bronze depicts a remarkably lifelike peacock with it's tail fe...
Category

Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Bronze

MAJOLICA 1890 French Art Nouveau Polychromate Tall Hexagonal Vase
Located in Miami, FL
French majolica vase designed by De Longwy. This is a very nice elaborated tall vase, created in France during the art nouveau period, back in the 1890's. The fabulous decorative va...
Category

1890s French Antique Art Nouveau Decorative Objects

Materials

Majolica

Art Nouveau decorative objects for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Art Nouveau decorative objects for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage decorative objects created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include decorative objects, serveware, ceramics, silver and glass, more furniture and collectibles and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with metal, brass and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Art Nouveau decorative objects made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and France pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original decorative objects, popular names associated with this style include Bohemia, Lalique, and Tiziano Galli. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for decorative objects differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $90 and tops out at $9,106 while the average work can sell for $494.

Recently Viewed

View All