Lot Essay
In this fine, sculptural libation vessel, Emile Gallé has taken a historic form, the stemmed tazza or cup of the glassmakers of the Renaissance, and transformed it into a masterpiece of Art Nouveau. In a bold fusion of theme and form, the iris is not represented simply as a decoration but is the inspiration for the very shape this piece takes, the flower sensually modeled in full relief, its scrolling stem curling to the support and forming a handle. The text on the coupe is from Theocritus, the 3 century BC poet from Syracuse, author of pastoral idylls that inspired subsequent generations of poets.
There survive both a preliminary sketch for this model and a finished watercolor, both in the collection of the Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy.
There survive both a preliminary sketch for this model and a finished watercolor, both in the collection of the Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy.