Émile Gallé "Echinacée" Music Stand
Regular price
$13,500
With the rise of color lithography in the mid-nineteenth century, sheet music bound in ornate covers became fashionable and widely accessible, prompting the creation of the music cabinet. Originally designed to store sheet music, its vertical compartments now house magazines and other softcover publications. This music stand features molding inspired by echinacea, a North American plant that gained popularity in the 18th century. As echinacea blooms mature, their petals naturally droop, a characteristic beautifully captured in the design. The stand’s interior is embellished with pierced bellflower (campanula) motifs, while a detached stamen floats upward, stylized as musical clefs to evoke the flow of melody. The marquetry on the top of the cabinet illustrates a stonechat perched on a bellflower plant, leaning to the right with its weight, set against a line of oak trees in the background.
Item #: F-21875
Artist: Émile Gallé
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 31" height, 30.5" width, 15" depth.
Materials: Fruitwood, walnut
Signed: Gallé
Literature: Duncan, Alastair, Georges De Bartha, and Emile Gallé. 2012. Gallé Furniture. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, New York, NY: Antique Collectors Club ; ACC Distribution. p. 224
Item #: F-21875
Artist: Émile Gallé
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 31" height, 30.5" width, 15" depth.
Materials: Fruitwood, walnut
Signed: Gallé
Literature: Duncan, Alastair, Georges De Bartha, and Emile Gallé. 2012. Gallé Furniture. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, New York, NY: Antique Collectors Club ; ACC Distribution. p. 224
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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