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Émile Gallé

Documentation	Signed
Origin	France
Period	1900-1919
Condition	Excellent.
Creation Date	Circa 1900s
Description	A French Art Nouveau two tiered table by Émile Gallé. The table's four legs are the carved bodies of dragonflies, their wings outstretched and frozen mid-flight. The table top rests on the dragonflies' heads and wings, with a fluid curvature in the corners creating a crown for the winged creatures' heads. Marquetry on the table top depicts flowers on long-leafed stems, with shadows of foliage in the background. Decoration in darker tones and larger, starker motifs, decorate the lower tier, playing on the shadows in which it is naturally shrouded. The dragonfly works of Gallé's provoked very strong critical reaction when they were debuted in 1900, with champions of Art Nouveau lauding the modernity of the dragonfly as caryatid, while detractors were horrified by the very idea of insects as table legs. Time has certainly found favor with this design, as it has found pride of place in museum collections worldwide. Signed, ''Gallé''.
Styles / Movements	Art Nouveau, Modern
Book References	A similar table is pictured in: Gallé Furniture, by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 2012, p. 207, plate 192a.
Dealer Reference Number	F-17887
Incollect Reference Number	174620