LE VERRE FRANÇAIS. France, ca.1925. Vase. Paste glass with acid-etched decoration. Measurements: 15 cm (height) x 5 cm (diameter). Piece made by the glassmaking firm Schneider-Le Verre Français in which the Art Deco aesthetic beats strongly. Ernest (1877-1937) and Charles Schneider (1881-1953) founded in 1911 a small glassworks located in Epinay-sur-Seine, France. Charles Schneider, a graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Paris and gifted with artistic skills out of the ordinary, will get along with his brother that their production becomes the most important art glassware in France between 1926 and 1930. His were always hand-blown pieces, which meant that each glass in the same series would never be identical to another. At the same time, the range of hot and cold decoration processes was always applied with virtuoso mastery. Charles Schneider meticulously studied the temperature and chemical compositions to obtain an extremely extensive palette of colors, some of them never seen before and of unprecedented strength in the art of glass. The so-called Tango, for example, an explosive orange, will become the most innovative. Known as Verreries Schneider, the firm made two production lines. The first, under the Le Verre Français brand, includes pieces decorated with the acid-etched cameo technique, with generally two colors of glass superimposed and a stylized floral decoration, shiny on a matte background. The second line, under the emblematic Schneider brand, consists of pieces in shorter series, sometimes unique, proposing a smooth and shiny glassware, with more elaborate and personal decorative techniques. In any case, the triumph of this firm was undoubtedly due to the creative frenzy, enthusiasm, talent and genius of one man, Charles Schneider.