Description
Art Nouveau DAUM vase. Nancy, France, 1905. Cameo glass. With mark. Measurements: 12 cm (height) x 6 cm (diameter). Vase with a circular base on which stands the body of the vase, decorated with floral motifs on a bichrome background. Formally the piece presents a slight bulge in its belly. Regarding the technique, in fact the cameo glass is known since ancient times, although it was taken up again in the late nineteenth century in France and England. Émile Gallé presented his acid-etched cameo technique at the Paris Exhibition of 1889, with the aim of bringing modernist glass to the public. It was a form of decoration faster and cheaper than the cameo engraved wheel, so the result was more affordable pieces, mass-produced but handmade, since no templates were used but the motif was drawn by hand on each piece. The cameo glass technique consists of blowing a bubble of two or more layers of glass of different colors, which are then carved or removed by acid re-melting the bottom, thus leaving the motif in relief, in the color of the top layer of glass. This novel technique was soon adopted also by other artistic glass firms, such as Daum. The Daum manufacture was founded in the late nineteenth century by Augustin Daum (1853-1909), from a small family glassworks in Nancy. He would be joined by his brother Antonin (1864-1931), and Daum's workshops would soon after become a meeting and training place for many young artists, who promoted the Art Nouveau style in Nancy. At first they made ordinary glass, but in 1891 they decided to open a decorative workshop and undertake an artistic production, probably as a result of the success of Émile Gallé (1846-1904) at the 1889 Exhibition. Eventually, Daum will have a factory with more than three hundred employees and an artistic production of great variety. During World War I, the factory closed, but resumed production after the war, adapting to the change of aesthetics and leaving behind the modernism of its first period. During the Art Nouveau period, most of Daum's pieces were made of acid-etched cameo glass, but with the new Art Deco style, new techniques and decorative styles were investigated.
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Art Nouveau DAUM vase. Nancy, France, 1905. Cameo glass. With mark. Measurements: 12 cm (height) x 6 cm (diameter). Vase with a circular base on which stands the body of the vase, decorated with floral motifs on a bichrome background. Formally the piece presents a slight bulge in its belly. Regarding the technique, in fact the cameo glass is known since ancient times, although it was taken up again in the late nineteenth century in France and England. Émile Gallé presented his acid-etched cameo technique at the Paris Exhibition of 1889, with the aim of bringing modernist glass to the public. It was a form of decoration faster and cheaper than the cameo engraved wheel, so the result was more affordable pieces, mass-produced but handmade, since no templates were used but the motif was drawn by hand on each piece. The cameo glass technique consists of blowing a bubble of two or more layers of glass of different colors, which are then carved or removed by acid re-melting the bottom, thus leaving the motif in relief, in the color of the top layer of glass. This novel technique was soon adopted also by other artistic glass firms, such as Daum. The Daum manufacture was founded in the late nineteenth century by Augustin Daum (1853-1909), from a small family glassworks in Nancy. He would be joined by his brother Antonin (1864-1931), and Daum's workshops would soon after become a meeting and training place for many young artists, who promoted the Art Nouveau style in Nancy. At first they made ordinary glass, but in 1891 they decided to open a decorative workshop and undertake an artistic production, probably as a result of the success of Émile Gallé (1846-1904) at the 1889 Exhibition. Eventually, Daum will have a factory with more than three hundred employees and an artistic production of great variety. During World War I, the factory closed, but resumed production after the war, adapting to the change of aesthetics and leaving behind the modernism of its first period. During the Art Nouveau period, most of Daum's pieces were made of acid-etched cameo glass, but with the new Art Deco style, new techniques and decorative styles were investigated.
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