Firescreen, ash with applied floral decoration and marquetry in various woods, Emile Gallé, France, 1900

Firescreen, with frame of carved oak, the surface veneered in ash (the grain set horizontally), with applied floral decoration and marquetry in various woods, both native to Europe and imported from tropical areas of the world. The back is veneered with burr maple. The marquetry on the front shows wild clematis (Clematis vitalba), known in Britain as 'Traveller's Joy' or 'Old Man's Beard', and the stems of this plant form the carved frame. Two of the main inlaid fronds are set in high relief and carved in oak (like the frame), with one leaf (the lowest) in zebra-wood. Other woods inlaid into the ash ground probably include elm, burr elm, walnut, amboyna, sabicu and mahogany, although none of these have been confirmed by microscopic examination. The screen is raised on four feet, two at each side, the feet flowing into the narrow, curved frame surrounding the inverted pear shaped panel.

Gallé's signature is inlaid into the lower left of the panel, running vertically, in a form inspired by Japan.

There is almost no shrinkage in the panel, even after more than a century, suggesting that the marquetry is laid onto a substrate of plywood, which Gallé is known to have used by this date, although it may simply be a single board that is veneered on both sides with woods set with the grain running at right angles to the grain of the core board.

Given by George Donaldson

Shown by Gallé at the International Exhibition in Paris, 1900 (group XII, class 69), where it won a prize. Purchased by the Vice-President of the jury for furniture, George Donaldson, and presented to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), together with a large collection of furniture in the Art Nouveau style.

Emile Gallé started his career by designing glassware and earthenware for his father’s firm in Saint-Clément, north-east France, in the 1860s. By 1874, he had taken over his father’s firm, now established in nearby Nancy, and begun to revolutionise its products with new glass designs in the Art Nouveau style. In 1884 he opened a furniture-making workshop and he soon became famous for his elegant Art Nouveau pieces, of which this fire screen is typical.

Gallé had studied botany as a young man and his love of plants is evident in many of the pieces he made. Here the flowing lines of the overall design and of the marquetry decoration transform what was a very traditional item of furniture. The marquetry is combined not only with high-relief carving but also with subtle low-relief carving of the fronds and leaves, which add a subtle depth to the design.

1985-1900