Art Nouveau Vases

Before describing the object under consideration, we must make an important clarification; the artifact, one of many that we will publish over time, is part of the museum collection of a historic Florentine crystal grinder that unfortunately closed recently. It is the Marcello Galgani & Sons company, whose completely manual and artisanal work has not withstood the disproportionate advance of mass-produced mechanical processes! Marcello Galgani began his craft as a grinder and restorer in 1960; as the years went by, Marcello mastered and became familiar with particular techniques and shapes, resulting in the production of objects that manage to retain the freshness of grinding and engraving, the warmth and softness of light, and the inimitable flavor of unique artifacts. After several years, his son Lorenzo, who grew up among crystals, also entered the business and immediately became passionate about this ancient craft with skill and ability. Stimulated by the aesthetic sense of the past, father and son, set up a workshop in which the shapes they researched and created themselves are mouth-blown by traditional Tuscan glassmakers in Empoli, then ground and engraved using ancient sixteenth-century techniques, with motifs born from the Galgani's inexhaustible imagination or culturally inspired by designs of objects seen and studied in Florentine museums (Uffizi, Galleria Palatina, Museo degli Argenti, etc.). Marcello and Lorenzo Galgani were also Masters in the difficult art of restoration, bringing rare and precious objects back to life. As mentioned the company recently closed and disposed of all its last production, and only Marcello's old private museum collection remained, which includes unique and special objects created over time, a collection that the craftsman made available to us for a planned sale. All of the objects were made entirely by hand with old grinding wheels, but there were mainly two tools that allowed the creation of masterpieces: the right hand and the left hand of the master craftsman. Ancient glassmaking techniques were used for all the ground and engraved products: first, the object was ground with an emery wheel fed continuously by a jet of abrasive sand and water, then re-polished with a very fine-grained sandstone wheel also fed with water; the engravings were done freehand using as many as 10-15 small stone wheels for each design (flowers, branches, animals, etc. ); then the object was polished and shined; we must make, at this point, an important clarification on these last two operations: towards the end of the 1960s acid crystal polishing was devised, the object was immersed and rotated in a solution of sulfuric acid, fluoridic acid and water and in a short time all the defects left by the previous processes were eliminated, it was a fast, industrial operation that allowed to lower costs considerably, with discrete but not excellent results. But for Galgani's products polishing is done with a cork bark wheel wet with water and pumice, to make the surfaces more transparent, and finally polishing was achieved with a felt wheel wet with a paste of water, iron oxide, and cerium oxide. This series of processes takes an average of two days of work( sometimes much longer) for each object, each engraving or grinding is the result of the creative inventiveness of the two artisans, inventiveness that transforms crystal into reality material of the highest aesthetic value and inestimable value. All the items in the entire collection have never been used; they were part of the exhibition. Large crystal vase with a black base; the decorations, purely Art Noveau, represent graceful butterflies and dragonflies in a peaceful lake landscape. The object is "one-of-a-kind" signed by the Master; it was created in Marcello Galgani's workshop in 1982 and made with the techniques (grinding, engraving, and polishing) we explained in the description; for the shape, the Master was inspired by a vase found in a painting, preserved in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence by the 16th-century painter Jacopo Ligozzi...

A museum piece of French Art Nouveau glass art: Lamp with baluster-shaped foot on a stepped, flat, round stand raised in the centre, hemispherical shade, slightly heat-stretched and pressed upwards on four sides, made of multi-layered glass with coloured powder fusions, predominantly in yellow-orange, red, brown, green and blue-violet tones, with highly etched vine leaves and grapevine decoration, two fully sculpted snails on the foot as a special accent, Cameo signature ‘DAUM NANCY’ with Lorraine cross on the foot in the lower area, and on the shade, which rests on a patinated metal mount, which also carries the threads for the light sources, one at the top and one inside the foot. Technique: Handmade cameo glass Glass overlaid with several layers, with high-cut worked out motifs. Since the middle of the 19th century, the design has also been done by etching. Cameo glass vessels were already being made in antiquity; cameo glass vessels were already being made in ancient times, and at the end of the 19th century this glass art was further developed, especially in Nancy. Manufactory: Daum Frères / Nancy, Lorraine, France Dating: Circa 1905 Dimensions: Height: 53,5 cm / 21.06 in Diameter: 32,0 cm / 12.59 in Bibliography: Carolus Hartmann, Glasmarken-Lexikon / Encyclopedia of Glass Marks, Stuttgart / Germany 1997, Signature number 2984 on page 148, and page 561: Daum Frères & Cie, Verreries de Nancy Condition: Very good The electrification is functional, but should be renewed for safety reasons. About the design: The development of Art Nouveau glass art coincides with a revolution in lighting, the significance of which we can no longer fully appreciate today in the 21st century. Around 1880-1890, oil lamps and paraffin lamps were still almost unrivalled in every household. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the ‘electricity fairy’ emerged as a remarkable advance and gradually found its way into the daily lives of all social classes. The glassmakers at the Ecole de Nancy were true pioneers and eagerly seized the opportunity to use electricity to illuminate the colours applied to the glass. Colour was one of the main concerns of the master glassmakers at the Ecole de Nancy. Emile and Antonin Daum returned to the colours that had made the stained glass of the Middle Ages so splendid and extended the palette of colours in the glass mass as they needed it for the floral motifs and exact representations of nature. But the modulation of the colours, their arrangement in juxtaposed patches, the technique that the Impressionist painters practised on their canvases at the same time, was difficult to achieve due to the nature of the glass melted in a large mass. To achieve this richness of expression, around 1900 Daum developed ‘the process of applying glass powder and enamel to the outside of the vases to create coloured backgrounds or decorative spots’, according to the report of the jury of the 1900 World Exhibition. The field of naturalistic, contrasting and shimmering colours was one in which Antonin Daum excelled. This new technical process made it possible to create the symphonies of colour that we find on the ‘Vignes et escargots’ lamp...

Muller Feres The heart of the company was formed by five brothers (Henri, Desire, Eugene, Pierre, Victor) from a glass making family who trained and worked at the Galle factory. Henr...

This exquisite Art Nouveau vase by Émile Gallé in Nancy is statement pieces in the room. Signed E. Gallé. Large Flattened banjo form cabinet vase with red currant decoration in clea...

KRALIK - Antique Art Nouveau iridescent 'threaded' glass vase with dimpled sides and ruffled edge - striking green and red color combination - polished pontil mark to the base - unsi...

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...

Beautiful, graceful, Art Nouveau Period, sterling silver vase, having a trefoil-shaped base, Sheffield, England, year- hallmarked for 1903, William Mammatt and Son - makers. Measures...

Very decorative Loetz Witwe glass vase in decoration Cobalt Papillon from the Art Nouveau period in Bohemia, circa 1903. This gorgeous vase from the workshops in Klostermuehle shows ...

Art Nouveau glass vase by historic Loetz with engraved silver overlay, ca 1900. Voluptuous waisted form with pinched shoulder and wavy turned-down mouth. Overlay in form of whiplash ...

Vintage cased tango orange glass vase with black accent features elegant, minimal shape and eye-catching color palette. Deep, jewel-toned, coral orange color dominates the design; t...

Stylish Bohemian Vesuvian Candia iridescent glass vase with tadpoles by Johann Loetz Witwe and dating from around 1901. The simply shaped wide v...

Beautiful and large, antique Murano hand blown Millefiori Murrina flower mosaic Italian art glass double handles vase. Documented to the Fratelli Toso company, circa 1900-1920. Amazi...

This French Art Nouveau enameled and etched "Fleurs et Abeilles" glass vase by Daum Nancy features an unusual and wildly undulating form that is countered neatly by the tightly executed landscape that decorates its organic curves, bulges, dips and valleys. Climbing from a deeply, darkly colored base upward to the bright, nearly translucent bright yellow rim of the vase are a field of ultra-finely rendered red orchid blooms with framing leaves...

Extraordinary pair of vases, in the Secession style, originals from the Art Nouveau period, made around 1910 by the famous Villeroy and Boch factory, Dresden, Germany. The vases eac...

Beautiful antique Murano hand blown blue, green and white Millefiori Murrina flower mosaic Italian art glass decorative vase. Documented to the Fratelli Toso Company, circa 1900-1920...

Reduced from $325....In vivid tomato red and gun metal black, a tall pre-war 1930s ceramic Art Nouveau vase with handles from former Czechoslovakia. De...

Lovely, early 20th century glass vase with frilly edge coming from the famous Art Nouveau period in Austria around 1900. The mouthblown light pink flashed...

Tall Early Gallé Fire-Polished Cameo Glass Solifleur Vase, circa 1900 Signed: In Japonism script “gallé” Height: 12.4 inches (31.5 cm) Tall vase with pe...

This is an Emile Galle Art Glass Cameo Vase. It is an elongated ovoid shaped vase. It has a frosted orange glass at the upper top highlighted by differ...

A ca. 1920's French Art Nouveau "Epinettes" cameo glass vase by La Verre Français. The acid engraved yellow and maroon glass shows "epinettes", flowers resemb...

Brown glazed ceramic amphora vase, with striking asymmetrical two handles design, fabricated in the early 1900s.

Rare and probably unique Art Nouveau lustre glazed art pottery vase by Cranston Pottery and made around 1900. Probably an exhibition piece this lightl...

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...

Capodimonte porcelain is porcelain created by the Capodimonte porcelain manufactory, which operated in Naples, Italy, between 1743 and 1759. Capodimonte is one of the most revered fa...

A delightful Art Nouveau Royal Worcester urn shaped twin handled porcelain vase hand painted with floral designs dated 1905. The lightly potted vase stands on a narrow round foot rim...

A fine antique art glass vase. By Lundberg Studios. Comprised of a trumpet shaped iridescent favrile glass vase with a pulled peacock feather pattern mounted on a trumpet footed co...

This exquisite multi colored Art Nouveau vase by Émile Gallé in Nancy is statement pieces in the room. Signed E. Gallé. Vase with red currant decoration in frosted glass internally ...

A fine and stunning Art Nouveau German pair of hand painted art pottery vases with floral designs made by the renowned manufactory of Royal Bonn and dating from around 1900. Royal B...

Art Nouveau Pewter Vase, Early 20th Century, France. This beautiful Art Nouveau period conical vase on 4 leaf-like feet features tall, flowering plant-shaped elongated handles and en...

An encounter with Massier’s luster-glazed ceramics is an embarkation on an acid-colored trip, the sort of exploration which inspires deep reflection and requires transparency. Clemen...

This French Art Nouveau pink opaline glass vase, hand-blown and decorated circa 1896, exemplifies the era’s love of organic forms and intricate craftsmanship. Of baluster form, the v...

Antique American Art Nouveau Rookwood three handled vellum vase, Lorinda Epply, 1915. The blue vase of reversed bell shaped with three elongated handles, around the wide mouth of the...

Art Nouveau Classical sterling silver vase. Made by Tiffany & Co. in New York. Baluster on domed foot with scalloped leaf and scroll rim. Twisted fluting with leafing scroll terminal...

Striking Art Nouveau jug was designed by Richard Teschner in 1906 for Lötz Witwe, Klostermühle. It was made in mould-blown technique in opal or alabaster white glass with uranium green glass applications. Comb and long moustache are green, and eyes and pupils are made of yellow and red glass. The jug can be identified by multiple veritable online and printed resources; it was manufactured in clear and opal glass with both uranium green and clear green applications; some resources have the opal one listed as model no. 4506, but we haven't seen any mentions of uranium glass anywhere, making this piece rather rare and unusual. This piece will work very well in any style of interior or would make a great gift for an art and design enthusiast. The jug is in good antique condition with light, age-appropriate signs on wear on the bottom. Both sides of moustache have sharp ends; upon close examination of pictures of Merman jugs that were listed as "in perfect condition" and had the same sharp ends, we came to a conclusion that the sharp ends must be created as a part of manufacturing process during the application of long, thin strands of stretched glass...

This is a Lalique Crystal Champs- Elysses medium size oval bowl vase. It depicts multiple horse chestnut leaves arranged around a circular center base. Below the base, it is the acid...

A simply beautiful pair of tulip-shaped Bohemian glass vases in emerald green, in the Art Nouveau style. Dating from the end of the 19th Century, these stunning vases feature an unco...

This remarkable acid-etched vase is the work of the famed Art Nouveau master Émile Gallé, one of the most highly regarded names in French glassmaking. The artist's love of nature is ...

WMF vases Germany, 1900-1910 Silver metal Jugenstil Vases Excellent condition. WMF mark under the base

Fine Galle Cameo glass cabinet vase, with lavender cameo floral decoration, signed in the glass. Measure: The opening is 1.75" diameter.

A fine antique French Art Nouveau Emille Galle cameo glass vase, circa 1900. The stem vase of a tapering conical form and finely wheel carved and acid etc...

Art Nouveau Green iridescent glass Pique Fleurs' vase by Loetz' with Grille Subtle, hand blown glass vase in the Art Deco style. This design for vases is often called 'Pique fleurs'...

Daum Freres, Nancy, France, late 19th century large pitcher. An exquisite Art Nouveau glass vase/pitcher by Daum Nancy, roughened acid etched surface with gilt and white enameled mis...

Art Nouveau double gourd studio pottery vase - featuring multi-color splashed glazes with an iridescent finish - all on a cream ceramic ground - wheel thrown - unsigned - inscribed C...

Beautiful pink and white acid etched vase with decorations of maple leaf and samara seeds by the French 1900s Art Nouveau Manufacture Legras. Signed in the vase. Very good condition...

Antique drip glazed ceramic bud vase in rich earth tones. A classic example of Art Nouveau earthenware. Controlled drip has a lovely ombre effect that graduates from mohagany, to pale peach, and into aubergine with a dark finish at the bottom. Attributed to Faiencerie Thulin...

Dreamlike, very rare Loetz Witwe glass vase, decor "Cytisus Yellow" with silver overlay out of Bohemia, circa 1902. The Cytisus decor is definit...

Vase in the shape of a drum on an oval, short base, slightly tapering towards the top in depth, at the top as an opening an arcuate cutout with a slight beaded edge. Colorless glass ...

Hand-built vase of an experimental design, possibly for exhibition, as it is unmarked. Note: We highly recommend shipping through 1stDibs for its cost effectiveness, full insurance ...

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...

This elegant Art Nouveau vase was realized in the England by the storied maker Wedgwood circa 1890. It features Art Nouveau stylized foliate patterns in caramel and crimson with an i...

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...

Art glass vase by Fratelli Toso, Murano, Venice, Italy, Beg. 20th. Fenicia decor. Height: 2.5" (6.5cm), Diameter: 3.3" (8.5cm).

Rare and interesting early Emile Galle cameo vase, c14 inches tall, decorated with 1908 chrysanthemum series probably the "sur café au lait" version,...

Pair of Early 20th Century Painted Glass Vases Origin: France Style: Art Nouveau Material: Glass Add a touch of elegance to your space with this set of two early XXth century Art N...

Beautiful and rare pewter beaker by renowned Danish silversmith and designer Mogens Ballin (1871–1914), a central figure in the Scandinavian Art Nouveau movement. This piece is an ex...

Cylindrical glass vase with etched decoration. The vase was designed by Josef Hoffmann, co-founder of the Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstatte. The vase was produced by the Boh...

Art Nouveau ceramic vases with gilt flowers by Turn Teplitz marked RStK and Amphora. Ceramic, hand-painted green and purple with gilt flowers. Austria c...

Model #3771 Riessner, Stellmacher and Kessel (RSt&K), consistently marked pieces with the tradename “Amphora” by the late 1890s and became known by that name. The Amphora pottery fa...