Superb set of four nesting tables, Emile Gallé in Nancy

Magnificent set of four nesting tables in wood marquetry. Flowers, birds, holly, the decorative repertoire is represented in a sumptuous blend of woods such as elm, sycamore, walnut, cherry, ash, maple, Indian rosewood and rio rosewood. Signed by Emile Gallé, the master of the Nancy Art Nouveau school.

Size of the largest table: H 70.5 cm – shelf W 57.5 cm x D 37.5 cm

Emile Gallé, Nancy, circa 1900.

Lit : Émile Gallé (1846-1904) was one of the most important figures in the applied arts of his time and one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau, founder and first president of the École de Nancy in 1901.
After learning the glassmaking trade in Meisenthal and ceramics at the Faïencerie de Saint-Clément, Emile Gallé joined his father’s earthenware and glassware trading and decoration business in 1867. It was he who represented his father at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he received an honourable mention for glassware, and at the 1872 Universal and International Exhibition in Lyon, where he won a gold medal in class 33 (porcelain and crystal).
His approach was not merely theoretical; he was not afraid to try his hand at blowing. To this he added a good knowledge of cabinet-making and, above all, his family’s passion for the natural sciences, particularly plants, which led him to drawing. In Nancy, Gallé studied under Dominique-Alexandre Godron, a naturalist and doctor. He studied plants, animals and insects. He was elected secretary of the Société Centrale d’Horticulture de Nancy in 1877.
That same year, Emile Gallé took over the family business and extended his activities to cabinet-making in 1885. Having already made a name for himself at the Exhibition of Earthenware and Glass in 1884, Gallé was honoured at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889 with three awards for his ceramics, glassware and furniture (including a Grand Prix for his glassware), where he celebrated the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and thus developed the theme of patriotism through his symbolic decorations. On this occasion, Gallé was made an officer of the Légion d’Honneur. He died in 1904.