Emile Gallé, high fired ceramic sculpture an Owl, c1889

Size: 33.5 cm tall

Condition: Excellent condition.  There are some tiny chips in the glaze at the base. It seems likely that these date from when the figure was made, as the base was ground flat after firing to remove dribbles from the glaze.  Otherwise, no chips, cracks or restoration.

Gallé, best known today for his superb glass creations, also made ceramics from an early stage in his career. In the 1880s he transformed the factory of his father, at Nancy in France, and began to forge a name for the highest quality decorative art, adopting the style of the Art Nouveau movement and using imagery and themes from nature.  His knowledge of chemistry also informed his glazing techniques as well as his glass making.

This owl figure was one of his last ceramic creations, made after he had already achieved international success. It  is high-fired faience, cast in earthenware clay and then finished with fantastic dribbled glazes, fired in a reduction kiln.  The glued-in eyes are glass. It is signed on the base “Emile Galle fec[i]t”. 

The Owl appears in an 1889 painting of Gallé by Louis Hestaux, titled Le Peintre sur Fayence. It shows Gallé in his studio in Nancy, surrounded by his faience creations.

It also crops up in a photograph of Gallé’s demonstration kiln at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle.  It would appear that Gallé may have viewed the figure as a lucky mascot.

We do not know how many of these owls were made, but it is unlikely to be many.  Each model had variations in the glaze, as they were individually hand made.

Literature: Emile Gallé Keramik, Bernd Hakenjos (pictured)
Example in the Ladesmuseum Württemberg Stuttgart.