An 'Aux Phalènes' Coupe, 1884-1904

This inventive bowl becomes an ever-changing evocation of its delicate subject of moths, the complex technique perfectly matching the elusive character of these delicate creatures. They are represented as dark silhouettes in flight, glimpsed fleetingly within the thickness of the glass, the details of their bodies and wings rendered by fine carving to the surface; their image seems elusive as the milky glass, meanwhile, changes color and degree of translucency according to the direction of the light. This latter dichroic effect was one of the various subtle possibilities developed by Gallé through experiment with the chemical make-up of his material in his search to endow glass with the characteristics of certain semi-precious stones.

The moth, and the butterfly were favored motifs from the insect kingdom, ones which we find in numerous models, both in glass and in marquetry, most notably in his masterpiece of 1904, the bed ‘Aube et Crépuscule’ with its spectacular inlaid ‘papillons endormeurs’ (sleep-inducing butterflies’). Surviving drawings from the Gallé studio record the artist’s fascination with these fragile, elusive subjects.

Another similar example of this design was exhibited at La Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905.