Ashville Fine Arts

Art Nouveau Tobacco Smoking Pipe Erotic Composition England, Circa 1900 DIMENSIONS Length: 6.5 inches Width: 1.5 inches Height: 1.75 inches ABOUT An English Art Deco circa 1920s ...

French Art Deco Tobacco Smoking Pipe Two Heads of African Men Hand-Carved Wood Circa 1920s DIMENSIONS Length: 6.25 inches Width: 1.75 inches Height: 2.25 inches ABOUT A tobacco sm...

DIMENSIONS Length: 4.25 inches Width: 1-1/8 inches Height: 1.75 inches ABOUT A tobacco smoking pipe made of genuine carved meerschaum with amber mouthpiece. The stem depicts a head ...

Austrian Art Nouveau Tobacco Smoking Pipe Hand-Carved Meerschaum Amber Circa 1910 DIMENSIONS Length: 5.5 inches Width: 1.75 inches Height: 2 inches ABOUT A tobacco smoking...

Tobacco Smoking Pipe Head of Mephistopheles Hand-Carved Meerschaum Austria, Late XIX C. DIMENSIONS Length: 6.88 inches Width: 1.75 inches Height: 2.88 inches ABOUT A tobacco smo...

Pipe Stem Head of an Oriental Man in Turban Hand-Carved Meerschaum Austria, Late XIX C. DIMENSIONS Length: 3.5 inches Width: 2.25 inches Height: 2.75 inches ABOUT A tobacco smok...

Meiji Period (1868-1912) Imari Porcelain Elephant Bowtie Design w/ Floral Motif White Glazed Porcelain Japan Circa 1890 DIMENSIONS: Height: 6 inches Width: 5.5 inches Depth: 5 inche...

Japanese Meiji Period Kyogen Comic Theater Wooden Mask of a Black Man Circa 1910 DIMENSIONS ...

Japanese Late Meiji Period (1868-1912) Hirado Porcelain Incense Vessel Ca. 1890-1910 DIMENSIONS 5.5” high x 4.5” across

Japanese Edo Period Nabashima Blue White Porcelain Plate Sea Shells Family Crest Japan, Ca. 1850 Period: Edo Period (1603–1868) Date: Circa 1850 Markings: Signed o...

Vicky Choke, Chinese Contemporary Painted Ceramic Fantasy Chair, Ca. 1990 This unique little ceramic sculpture by renowned American Ceramist, Vicky Choke depicts a fantasy chair wit...

Art Nouveau Émile Gallé Dragonfly and Thistles Soliflore (Bud Vase) Multi-Color Enamel over Clear Art Glass Nancy, France Circa 1900 DIMENSIONS Height: 3.25 inches Max. Diameter: 2.75 inches Opening Diameter: 0.75 inches MARKINGS Signed in enamel at the base, bearing the mark “E. Gallé de Nancy.” MATERIALS Multi-color enamel on clear art glass CONDITION Excellent condition, with no chips, cracks, or restorations. ABOUT “The aim of my work is the study of nature, the love of nature's art and the need to express what one feels in one's heart.” – Emile Gallé A rare and exquisite cabinet-sized soliflore by Émile Gallé, exemplifying the highest artistic standards of early French Art Nouveau. The vase displays an exceptional and sculpturally sophisticated form—its body conceived as a sphere discreetly contained within a smaller cube—resulting in sensuously rounded, perfectly balanced contours that are both visually arresting and elegantly understated. The clear glass body is decorated with finely rendered, hand-applied enamels depicting a dragonfly in flight among mountain grasses and thistles—a lyrical theme central to Gallé’s celebration of the natural world. The composition is executed with subtle tonal gradations and refined brushwork, capturing both the delicate movement and the ephemeral beauty of the scene. A museum-quality example, notable for its rare form, poetic decoration, and intimate scale. A superb addition to any serious Art Nouveau or Gallé collection. ABOUT ARTIST Émile Gallé Gallé (French, 1846 – 1904) Emile Galle was a French glass and ceramic designer who combined art and botany. Most of his glass vases are created in Art Nouveau style. Born on May 4, 1846 in Nancy, France, Émile Gallé seemed destined for a career in glassmaking. Nancy was well-established for its glass artistry, and his father, Charles Gallé was an established faïence (ceramic) and glassmaker with his own successful manufactory, the Maison Gallé-Reinemer. It would be here under the guidance of his father that the young Emile began to learn the art of glassmaking while simultaneously indulging his academic interests in philosophy, botany and chemistry. In 1867, Gallé joined his father working full-time at the Maison. Gallé's glasswork, even at its earliest stages, was heavily influenced by nature, with his very first pieces incorporating enameled floral motifs painted upon clear glass. He was an avid botanist his entire life, collecting plants, flowers, and insects from which to study and draw inspiration. He was even elected Secretary-General for Nancy's Société centrale d'horticulture. Gallé traveled throughout Europe studying works at museums and private institutions, gaining insight from ancient glass antiquities to Japonesque masterpieces, and everything in between. It would be Gallé’s trip to the British Museum in 1871 that would alter the course of his art career. Enamored by the famed ancient Roman cameo glass...