Lamp; France, late 19th century.

Lamp; France, late nineteenth century.
Cameo glass.
Electrified and in working order.
Signed Gallé on the lampshade.
Measurements: 35 x 18 cm.
This table lamp continues the Art Nouveau aesthetic and the technique of Émile Gallé. It is made of cameo glass with acid-etched decoration. Gallé presented his acid-etched cameo technique at the Paris Exposition of 1889, with the aim of bringing Art Nouveau glass to the public. It was a faster and cheaper form of decoration than the wheel-engraved cameo, resulting in more affordable pieces, mass-produced but handmade, since no stencils were used but the motif was drawn by hand on each piece.
Gallé imposed the characteristics of a style that evolved into free and refined expressions, applying a huge variety of themes and decorative techniques on opaque and colored glass, which continue to amaze today. Currently you can see pieces made by Emile Gallé in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the Brohan Museum in Berlin and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, among many others.