Offered by Brozzetti Antichità
Elegant coffee table in finely inlaid wood, signed Emile Gallé (1846-1904), France
This refined coffee table is the work of the French cabinetmaker and ceramist Emile v (1846-1904). Made in the early twentieth century, it is made of wood with the top inlaid in different wood species. Thanks to the wise use of the different colors of the woods is described a still life with composition of flowers and a butterfly. On the floor also the cabinetmaker signs "Gallé".
The oval-shaped table top, with high edging and side sockets, is presented as a tray to offer bottles and glasses, but also for a vase or whatever you like.
The two legs are composed of three wooden elements converging at the bottom, at the height of a crossbar that ensures its stability. They finally bifurcate with two curved feet. The whole is very graceful and harmonious, suitable in any environment, from the living room to a study, or wanting even in a bedroom as a small shelf.
The coffee table is perfect both combined with antique and modern furniture. Very decorative, it will bring, with its elegant lines and its marquetry, great charm to your environments.
Émile Gallé (4 May 1846 - 1904) was a French cabinetmaker, glassmaker and decorator, born from a family of crystal traders. Around the age of eighteen he went to Germany to study mineralogy and botany, where he soon became passionate and specialized in blown glass. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Emile decides to go to London for a time. He then travels to Switzerland and Italy visiting numerous museums. In 1873, Émile Gallé returned to Nancy with the idea of taking over the family business and of being able to create artistic works in glass representing forms of nature, both floral and animal. In this period he became the most important representative of the school of Nancy and the forerunner of the new art of glass, inserted in the current of modern style. In 1878, he took over the management of the family business "La Garenne" which he transformed into an artistic glassworks in 1885 and began working as a cabinet maker. In this discipline, in the name of the master, he fits among the great names of the end of the century, those of Hector Guimard (1867-1942) and friends and fellow citizens Louis Majorelle (1859-1926) and Eugène Vallin (1856-1922). Gallé brings back the marqueterie and makes it the maximum point of its aesthetic expression. Fascinated by the contrasts of wood uses more than six hundred rare essences. Treat the woods as if they were colors: flat surfaces, doors and plateaus take on the appearance of a picture in which floral inlays with dragonflies, butterflies, swallows, mushrooms, landscapes and the aquatic world stand out. To the naturalistic compositions, it joins others of Japanese inspiration, in which sometimes the signature is stylized according to the Japanese taste.
