Émile Gallé Set of Three Nesting Tables
Regular price
$12,500
This set of Gallé nesting tables pays homage to the three beverages favored by the French elite—tea, coffee, and chocolate. These drinks were enjoyed publicly in the city’s many tea rooms, coffeehouses, and chocolate houses, where gossip and intellectual discourse mingled freely. The uppermost table features Thea chinensis, the Chinese tea plant, symbolizing the afternoon ritual of tea. Beneath it nest tables depicting the Theobroma cacao plant and Coffea liberica, representing hot chocolate and coffee, respectively. While tea was traditionally taken in the afternoon, coffee was often reserved for later in the day—sipped before the opera to stay alert, or savored after a rich meal in the form of a demitasse. Unlike middle-class members of society, the wealthy could have these beverages prepared at home by servants. Wealthy individuals, unlike those in the middle class, had the privilege of having these beverages prepared by their household servants.
Item #: YF-22054
Artist: Émile Gallé
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 16" height, 31" width, 17.5" depth.
Materials: Walnut, Fruitwood Marquetry
Signed: Gallé
Literature: A similar set of tables is pictured in Gallé Furniture, by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012, p. 215, plate 201.
Item #: YF-22054
Artist: Émile Gallé
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 16" height, 31" width, 17.5" depth.
Materials: Walnut, Fruitwood Marquetry
Signed: Gallé
Literature: A similar set of tables is pictured in Gallé Furniture, by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012, p. 215, plate 201.
Gallé moved to open a small woodworkers shop in 1885, where he began experimenting in marquetry designs in furniture of his own. The plants that adorn his pieces are highly varied, and insects were a frequent theme, with many of his pieces containing butterflies, dragonflies, and beetles. Capturing his natural subject matter with scientific accuracy was a notable accomplishment in Gallé’s work, while infusing it with unmatchable beauty is what he is most celebrated for.
Gallé moved to open a small woodworkers shop in 1885, where he began experimenting in marquetry designs in furniture of his own. The plants that adorn his pieces are highly varied, and insects were a frequent theme, with many of his pieces containing butterflies, dragonflies, and beetles. Capturing his natural subject matter with scientific accuracy was a notable accomplishment in Gallé’s work, while infusing it with unmatchable beauty is what he is most celebrated for.
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