Skip to main content

Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

French, 1846-1904

“Art for art’s sake” was a belief strongly espoused by the celebrated French designer and glassworker Émile Gallé. Through his ethereal glass vases, other vessels and lamps, which he adorned with botanical and religious motifs, Gallé advanced the Art Nouveau ideology and led the modern renaissance of French glass.

Gallé was the son of successful faience and furniture maker Charles Gallé but studied philosophy and botany before coming to glassmaking later in life. The young Gallé’s expertise in botany, however, would inform his design style and become his signature for generations to come.

After learning the art of glassmaking, Gallé went to work at his father’s factory in Nancy. He initially created clear glass objects but later began to experiment with layering deeply colored glass.

While glassmakers on Murano had applied layers of glass and color on decorative objects before Gallé had, he was ever-venturesome in his northeastern France, taking advantage of defects that materialized during his processes and etching in natural forms like insects such as dragonflies, marine life, the sun, vines, fruits and flowers modeled from local specimens.

Gallé is also credited with reviving cameo glass, a glassware style that originated in Rome. He used cabochons, which were applied raised-glass decorations colored with metallic oxides and made to resemble rich jeweling. Gallé's cameo glass vases and vessels were widely popular at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, cementing his position as a talented designer and pioneer.

During the late 19th century, Gallé led breakthroughs in mass production and employed hundreds of artisans in his workshop.

Botany and nature remained great sources of inspiration for the artist's glassmaking — just as they had for other Art Nouveau designers. From approximately 1890 to 1910, the movement’s talented designers produced furniture, glass and architecture in the form of — or adorned with — gently intertwining trees, flowers and vines. But Gallé had many interests, such as Eastern art and ceramics. The Japanese collection he visited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (then the South Kensington Museum) during the 1870s had made an impression too.

Breaking free from the rigid Victorian traditions, Gallé infused new life and spirit into the art and design of his time through exquisitely crafted glass vessels and pioneering new glassworking techniques.

Find a collection of Émile Gallé vases and other furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.

to
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
Height
to
Width
to
2
2
2
98
40
35
29
26
Creator: Émile Gallé
Émile Gallé, Enameled Seashells and Flowers Green Opaline Glass Jardinière Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in PARIS, FR
Superb and rare early Émile Gallé jardinière vase in green opaline glass with enamelled decorations of seashells, plants and flowers. France late 1800s. Signed "Émile Gallé pour Bonh...
Category

1890s French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Enamel

Émile GALLÉ, Jardiniere with a design inspired by the nature of Pharaonic Egypt
By Émile Gallé
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
This ceramic jardinière, with a design inspired by the natural world of ancient Egypt, was created by Émile Gallé in the late 19th century. Considered the founding father of Art Nou...
Category

Late 19th Century French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Ceramic

Related Items
Vase, Glass, Following Models by Émile Gallé
By Émile Gallé
Located in Madrid, ES
Vase. Glass. Following models by Émile Gallé (Nancy, 1846-1904). Vase made of glass, with white, brown and goldstones, following both in technique and decoration the well-known Art ...
Category

20th Century European Other Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Glass

Vase, Glass, Following Models by Émile Gallé
Vase, Glass, Following Models by Émile Gallé
$1,013
H 11.03 in W 5.91 in D 5.91 in
Émile Gallé Miniature Cameo Vase, Art Nouveau, Ca 1900
By Émile Gallé
Located in Delft, NL
Émile Gallé miniature Cameo vase, Art Nouveau, ca 1900 Émile Gallé (Nancy, 1846 –1904) was a French glassmaker and furniture designer Émile Gallé 7...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Glass

Emile Galle Art Deco Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Pompano Beach, FL
Emile Galle Art Deco Vase in grey glass overlaid in purple and cut with pendant sweet peas; signed Galle in cameo after a star.
Category

Early 20th Century French Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Emile Galle Art Deco Vase
Emile Galle Art Deco Vase
$2,000 Sale Price
21% Off
H 13.75 in W 5.5 in D 5.5 in
Art Deco Vase by Emile Galle
By Émile Gallé
Located in Pompano Beach, FL
Art Deco Vase by Emile Galle. Cut with trailing vine and pendant grapes, in tones of peach and brown; signed Galle in Cameo after a star.
Category

Early 20th Century French Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Glass

Art Deco Vase by Emile Galle
Art Deco Vase by Emile Galle
$6,200 Sale Price
26% Off
H 10.5 in W 5.5 in D 5.5 in
Authentic Émile Gallé Art Nouveau Vase with Wisteria Motif, circa 1910
By Émile Gallé
Located in Bochum, NRW
An exquisite authentic vase by Émile Gallé, master of French Art Nouveau glass. Circa 1910. Dimensions: Height 21 cm × Diameter 8 cm. This piece showcases a delicate interplay of pur...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Glass

Émile Gallé Alpine Glass Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in New Orleans, LA
Exceptional in both size and artistry, this sand-polished cameo art glass vase from the famed Art Nouveau master Émile Gallé features an exceedingly rare alpine scene. The artist's l...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Art Glass

Émile Gallé Alpine Glass Vase
Émile Gallé Alpine Glass Vase
$49,850
H 17.5 in W 13 in D 6 in
1920s Émile Gallé Glass Vase with Butterfly Motif
By Émile Gallé
Located in Vienna, AT
For sale is a pretty little glass vase with red and white specks and gold- and silver colour applications. The design can be attributed to French glass and ceramic Artisan Émile Gall...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Brass

Large Emile Galle Scenic Cameo Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Dallas, TX
Emile Galle scenic wheel carved and acid etched cameo vase. A beautiful and tall cameo vase by Galle. The 18 - 1/2” tall vase has a background of muted yellow glass near the base, which progresses to blue/gray at mid-vase, and then peach towards the top. Brown, cameo cut trees are generously displayed across the body of the vase, with the addition of a boat in the lake. Signed "Galle". Dimensions: 18 - 1/2” x 10” x 8”. Condition: Very good Émile Gallé (8 May 1846 in Nancy – 23 September 1904 in Nancy) was a French artist and designer who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major innovators in the French Art Nouveau movement. He was noted for his designs of Art Nouveau glass art and Art Nouveau furniture, and was a founder of the École de Nancy or Nancy School, a movement of design in the city of Nancy, France. Gallé born on 4 March 1846 in the city of Nancy, France. His father, Charles Gallé, was a merchant of glassware and ceramics who had settled in Nancy in 1844, and his father-in-law owned a factory in Nancy which manufactured mirrors. His father took over the direction of his mother's family business, and began to manufacture glassware with a floral design. He also took over a struggling faience factory and began manufacturing new products. The young Gallé studied philosophy and natural science at the Lycée Imperial in Nancy. At the age of sixteen he went to work for the family business as an assistant to his father, making floral designs and emblems for both faience and glass. In his spare time he became an accomplished botanist, studying with D.A. Godron, the director of the Botanical Gardens of Nancy and author of the leading textbooks on French flora. He collected plants from the region and from as far away as Italy and Switzerland. He also took courses in painting and drawing, and made numerous drawings of plants, flowers, animals and insects, which became subjects of decoration. At the age of sixteen he finished the Lycée in Nancy and went to Weimar in Germany from 1862–1866 to continue his studies in philosophy, botany, sculpture and drawing. In 1866, to prepare himself to inherit the family business, he went to work as an apprentice at the glass factory of Burgun and Schwerer in Meisenthal, and made a serious study of the chemistry of glass production. Some of his early glass and faience works for the family factory at Saint-Clémont were displayed at the 1867 Paris Universal Exposition. In early 1870 he designed a complete set of dishware with a rustic animal designs for the family enterprise. During this time he became acquainted with the painter, sculptor and engraver Victor Prouvé, an artist of the romantic "troubadour" style, who became his future collaborator in the Nancy School. He enlisted for military service in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, then was demobilised after the disastrous French defeat in 1871 and the French loss to Germany of much of the province of Lorraine, including Meisenthal where he had done his apprenticeship. Thereafter the Cross of Lorraine, the patriotic symbol of the region, became part of his signature on many of his works of art. After his demobilization Gallé went to London, where he represented his father at an exhibition of the arts of France, then to Paris, where he remained for several months, visiting the Louvre and Cluny Museum, studying examples of ancient Egyptian art, Roman glassware and ceramics, and especially early Islamic enamelled...
Category

Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Art Glass

Large Emile Galle Scenic Cameo Vase
Large Emile Galle Scenic Cameo Vase
$4,400
H 18.5 in W 9 in D 7 in
Emile Gallé French Art Nouveau Cameo Glass Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Antwerp, BE
Emille Galle (1846-1904). Émile Gallé was a French glass maker and furniture designer, who had his home in his native Nancy. His favourite topic, which he frequently used in his wor...
Category

Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Glass

Emile Gallé French Art Nouveau Cameo Glass Vase
Emile Gallé French Art Nouveau Cameo Glass Vase
$2,146
H 5.52 in W 2.76 in D 1.58 in
Emile Galle Art Glass Cameo Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Guaynabo, PR
This is an Emile Galle Art Glass Cameo Vase. It is an elongated ovoid shaped vase. It has a frosted orange glass at the upper top highlighted by differ...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Art Glass

Emile Galle Art Glass Cameo Vase
Emile Galle Art Glass Cameo Vase
$3,200 Sale Price
20% Off
H 12.75 in W 5 in D 5 in
Emile Galle Blown Out Clematis Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Dallas, TX
Emile Galle Mold Blown Blue Clematis Glase Vase. Circa: 1910 Nancy, France A fine Galle blown-out glass vase, Clematis pattern, in strong blue colors. Signed in cameo, Galle. Heigh...
Category

Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Art Glass

Emile Galle Blown Out Clematis Vase
Emile Galle Blown Out Clematis Vase
$12,000
H 6.5 in Dm 9.5 in
Monumental Emile Galle French Cameo Sailboat Vase
By Émile Gallé
Located in Dallas, TX
Emile Galle (French 1846-1904) A lovely two color cameo vase with a yellow background featuring a lake scene with boats, trees and birds. The detail and fineness of the acid etchi...
Category

Early 1900s French Art Nouveau Antique Émile Gallé Planters, Cachepots and Jardinières

Materials

Art Glass

Émile Gallé planters, cachepots and jardinières for sale on 1stDibs.

Émile Gallé planters, cachepots and jardinières are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Émile Gallé planters, cachepots and jardinières, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original planters, cachepots and jardinières by Émile Gallé were created in the Art Nouveau style in france during the 19th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider planters, cachepots and jardinières by Delphin Massier, Fives-Lille, and Onnaing. Prices for Émile Gallé planters, cachepots and jardinières can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $15,428 and can go as high as $15,428, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $15,428.

Still Thinking About These?

All Recently Viewed