Art Deco Centerpiece. VERRERIES SCHNEIDER

Art Deco centerpiece. VERRERIES SCHNEIDER. Épinay-sur-Seine, France, ca. 1920.
Blown glass with inclusions of polychrome glass powder and an applied black glass base.
Exhibits sligthly wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 6 cm high x 30 cm in diameter.

The centerpiece features a wide, circular bowl with a gently curved profile, raised on a low black glass base. The surface is enlivened by a concentric composition of yellow, orange, brown, and greenish hues, distributed in diffuse patches that appear to radiate from the center toward the rim.

The piece is directly related to the so-called “large colored bowls with black bases,” one of the first iconic series in the Schneider artistic line. For these pieces, the manufacturer developed a wide range of powdered pigments, which were incorporated into the surface or between layers of colorless glass during the blowing process, producing chromatic effects of remarkable depth and richness.

Founded by brothers Charles and Ernest Schneider in Épinay-sur-Seine, the glassworks fully resumed its artistic production in 1918. Charles Schneider designed hundreds of models distributed under the Schneider and Le Verre Français lines, characterized by their intense colors and their naturalistic, stylized, and geometric motifs. The company achieved particular recognition at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris.