113 - Art Nouveau vase. GALLÉ Manufactory, Nancy, ca. 1905.

Art Nouveau vase. GALLÉ Manufactory, Nancy, ca. 1905. Acid-etched multilayered glass. Signed "Gallé" with a star. In good condition. Measurements: 75 x 25 x 25 cm. With its imposing form and striking verticality, this vase is an outstanding example of the naturalistic style developed by Émile Gallé, one of the leading figures of French Art Nouveau. Its unique silhouette combines a globular, flattened base with an extraordinarily slender cylindrical neck, whose surface serves as a backdrop for a delicate botanical composition. The decoration, created using etching, features an interlacing pattern of ascending stems and leaves with cut-out outlines, rendered with great precision in their veins and details. The chromatic gradations and varying levels of relief lend depth to the composition, evoking vegetation in its natural growth. The signature, accompanied by a star, allows us to date its creation to the early years of the manufactory’s operation following Gallé’s death in 1904, under the direction of his widow, Henriette Gallé. Émile Gallé was one of the leading innovators in the European decorative arts and the founder and first president of the École de Nancy in 1901. His experiments with glass, inspired particularly by botany and Japanese art, contributed decisively to the development of Modernism. He received significant recognition at the 1889 Paris World’s Fair, and his works are housed in institutions such as the Musée de l’École de Nancy and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.