Antique Vase Daum Nancy Flower Decorations France 1910 ca. - Nancy 1910 ca

Notes historical bibliographic

Jean Daum (1825-1885), an Alsatian notary, founded the company in 1878, after taking over a glass factory in Nancy which was in terrible economic conditions. Only after his death, his two sons, Auguste and Antonin, gave the company an artistic twist and brought it to success, taking care of its growth during the Art Nouveau period, until it became a leader in the decorated glass sector at the beginning of the twentieth century : Antonin was the main architect, both from an aesthetic point of view and from the point of view of experimentation and technical innovation. In the 1920s, Daum production abandoned the soft shapes of Art Nouveau to give space to a geometric taste, typical of Art Deco. On a technical-stylistic level, it is interesting to underline the technique used to give a "marble" effect to the vase described here, consisting of including powders obtained from pulverized colored glass in the transparent glass, arranging them until the desired color is obtained. This technique represents one of the most original and characteristic processes of Daum production.

Style: Art Nouveau (1890-1920)

Historical stylistic period formed from the end of the 19th century (ca. 1890) after the Umbertino style and continued until the First World War.

The current was characterized by the floral influence and the soft and curved lines, typical example are the "whiplashes".

The first signs of this new era came from architects such as Hector Guimard (1867-1942) who created numerous buildings and hotels, but also from people such as Arthur Mackmurdo furniture designer and Arthur Liberty industrialist and London merchant of the late 19th century who began to produce furnishing fabrics with floral motifs with soft and sinuous shapes.

The Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1900 was an important point for the development and affirmation of Liberty in the following decade.

Liberty was called in different ways depending on the nation, universally known as Art-Nouveau and it is thought that Arthur Liberty is the origin of the name given in Italy to this beautiful stylistic movement.

The name Art-Nouveau is thought to derive from a shop located in Paris called Maison de l'Art Nouveau which began to show off furniture with a new and innovative design in its windows.

With the end of the First World War, the naturalistic period of Liberty ended and the Art-Decò style appeared, with more rigid and geometric lines.

Find out more about the Liberty style with our insights:

Art Nouveau: birth and development of a style

Milan Liberty between flowers and colors

Carlo Zen's Liberty

Decorative shapes and elegance in an Liberty living room

FineArt: Aeolus and Cupid, Liberty sculpture by Luca Madrassi

FineArt: Nymph and Faun, Liberty sculpture by Giuseppe Siccardi

The Austrian taste of Baroque

Age: 20th Century / 1901 - 2000

20th Century / 1901 - 2000