Description
Cameo Glass Polar Bear Vase
Émile Gallé
Circa 1927
This towering Art Nouveau vase stands as one of the finest achievements of Émile Gallé’s iconic glassmaking firm. The Polar Bear vase, or Ours Polaires in French, is monumental in size and exceptionally rare, with only a few ever produced in this beautiful pattern.
The vase’s impressive scale required an extraordinary amount of glass and heightened craftsmanship to achieve its intricate details. It depicts polar bears adrift on an ice floe, framed by distant mountains and an icy blue backdrop. The use of layered opaque cameo glass makes the bear appear to be floating among the ice, creating a captivating, three-dimensional effect that was simply unmatched by Gallé’s peers.
Believed to be inspired by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot, the vase pays homage to his groundbreaking Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, which advanced the scientific understanding of these remote regions. This remarkable vase reflects the Art Nouveau movement’s fascination with nature and Gallé’s legacy as a pioneer in glass artistry.
Emile Gallé opened a small woodworker’s shop in 1885, where he began experimenting with marquetry designs in furniture and naturalistic glass designs. In 1889, he displayed his new glass creations at the Paris International Exhibition, where the designs and colors not previously seen caused an immediate sensation. The new style of Art Nouveau had begun to appear, and the movement’s aesthetics and devotion to nature appealed greatly to the young Gallé. In 1894 Gallé built a manufacturing plant in Nancy and began creating his own designs from inception through production. Gallé personally developed many of the designs, and he was known to actively make alterations and approve the designs of his talented team of designers and craftsmen he employed at the “Cristallerie D’Emile Gallé.”
Signed “Gallé”
14 1/2” high x 11” diameter
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