Muller Frères Pair of Art Deco Wall Sconces

Name: Muller Frères Pair of Art Deco Wall Sconces
Brand: Muller Frères
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

About the Item

Pair of Art Deco wall sconces, circa 1925. Wrought iron frame, glass shades signed Muller Frères. Wired, B22 socket. In perfect condition. Total height: 32 cm Width: 10.5 cm Depth: 16 cm Cover diameter: 9 cm Total weight: 1.6 kg The Muller brothers, founders of the Muller Frères glassworks, were French art glassmakers of the Art Nouveau period. The Muller family, originally from Kalhausen (Moselle), settled in Lunéville in 1870. Three of the brothers, Henri (1868-1936), Désiré (1877-1952), and Eugène (1883-1917) Muller, were recruited by Émile Gallé as clerks or glass engravers and decorators. But in 1897, Henri Muller left Émile Gallé, taking many secrets with him. He established his own glass decorating workshop in Lunéville, where he was joined by his eight brothers, his sister, and his father. His production was in direct competition with Gallé's. Émile Gallé harbored a deep resentment against the Mullers, writing a few years before his death (1904): "The wretch who leads the gang must have taken a mass of notes from my books, as well as my recipes, which were kept under lock and key." At the time, the glasses were blown in Croismare, at the Hinzelin glassworks, and then decorated in Lunéville. A second glassworks was established in Lunéville itself in 1910. The two Muller brothers' factories specialized in art glass. Numerous pieces emerged from them, of high technical quality and very similar to those produced in Gallé's factory in Nancy: vases, lamps, and trinkets typical of Art Nouveau. The Muller company prospered, and the factory employed up to three hundred people. Production subsequently evolved towards the Art Deco style, creating numerous marbled glass ceiling lights in the 1920s with brass, bronze, or wrought iron frames. The pieces produced in their workshops were thus signed: Muller Croismare, for those manufactured at the Hinzelin glassworks (before 1914); Muller Frères Lunéville (from 1919 onwards); Muller Fres or Muller Fres Lunéville. Following the Great Depression, the factory closed in 1936.

Creator:
Muller Frères (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 12.6 in (32 cm)Width: 4.14 in (10.5 cm)Depth: 6.3 in (16 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Power Source:
Hardwired
Voltage:
110-150v,220-240v
Lampshade:
Included
Style:
Art Deco (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Glass,Wrought Iron
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1920-1929
Date of Manufacture:
1925
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
NANTES, FR
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU7403249592372

Shop All Muller Frères

Muller Frères

Muller Frères was a family-owned glassworks that is best known for its striking designs produced in the Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles. The French company’s chandeliers, vases, lamps and other glass pieces created in the latter style — which were largely characterized by elegantly crafted natural-world motifs and subtle, organic forms — are highly sought after and make for distinctive additions to any space.

Henri Muller opened the company with four of his brothers in Lunéville, during a time that saw the modernizing Art Nouveau movement in the decorative arts develop countrywide as well as in Britain. It quickly became a dominant aesthetic style in Western Europe and the United States. Muller’s sister and an additional three brothers later joined the business.

The Muller family custom-ordered glass blanks from a glassworks near Nancy. The brothers learned about glass design from Émile Gallé, an innovative pioneer in glass artistry who would become a leading light of Art Nouveau. The style, 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. The earliest works by Muller Frères, which were often crafted in cameo glass, are strongly demonstrative of Gallé’s style and influence.

After a period that saw a pause in production owing to World War I, the company saw considerable success.

Muller Frères employed several hundred people at its commercial peak, when the Art Deco style of the 1920s, which was brought to international attention at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, was popularized by the likes of René Lalique, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Jules Leleu. Authentic Muller Frères Art Deco sconces and pendants and hanging lamps featured sculptural wrought iron frames and saw an integration of high-polished nickel plating, bronze, frosted glass and silver leaf.

Find antique Muller Frères lighting, decorative objects and serveware on 1stDibs.