Émile Gallé “Fleur de l’Eau” Three-tiered Table
Regular price
$27,500
This exquisite three-tiered table by Émile Gallé presents a stunning vignette of water flowers, each tier depicting a different flower. The top tier features intricate marquetry depicting a landscape of nenuphars (European white water lilies) surrounding a tiny islet of cypresses. This motif, evocative of Arnold Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead, was popularized at the turn of the century, inspired by the artist’s dream of an island where one journeys after death. The second tier, shaped like a cherry blossom, offers a planar (top-down) view of a tranquil marsh scene, with dragonflies hovering over lily pads and a delicate Japanese Iris ensata. The bottom tier showcases a cartouche framing a rare Iris setosa alba, inspired by a botanical study by Galle currently housed in the Musée d’Orsay. The table is exemplary of Gallé’s appreciation of Japanese design because of the very close studies of nature, the use of asymmetry, and the flattening of perspective with the use of different woods.
Item #: F-21873
Artist: Émile Gallé
Country: France
Circa: 1899
Dimensions: 29" height, 40.5" width, 20" depth.
Materials: Fruitwood, Walnut
Signed: Gallé
Literature: Also pictured in: Gallé Furniture, by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012, p. 160.
A similar table is also pictured in Fin de Siècle Masterpieces from the Silverman Collection, by Alastair Duncan, New York: Abbeville Press, 1989, page 81.
Item #: F-21873
Artist: Émile Gallé
Country: France
Circa: 1899
Dimensions: 29" height, 40.5" width, 20" depth.
Materials: Fruitwood, Walnut
Signed: Gallé
Literature: Also pictured in: Gallé Furniture, by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012, p. 160.
A similar table is also pictured in Fin de Siècle Masterpieces from the Silverman Collection, by Alastair Duncan, New York: Abbeville Press, 1989, page 81.
This table is further accented by vines that curve up the legs, ending in stylized lotus capitals just below the top tier of the table. An opening bud supports the central, smaller tier, and it shows Gallé’s mastery of naturalistic wood carving. The front left leg features a carved floral symbol.
This table is further accented by vines that curve up the legs, ending in stylized lotus capitals just below the top tier of the table. An opening bud supports the central, smaller tier, and it shows Gallé’s mastery of naturalistic wood carving. The front left leg features a carved floral symbol.
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