Émile GALLÉ (1846-1904) La Berce des près, circa 1902/03,

The only known example to date.

Exceptional dresser, known as Sauteuse, in ash veneer and carved and stained beech. The suspended body holds two drawers with a front decoration of Berces des près bordering a marsh featuring water lilies and animated by a frog, executed in marquetry of precious and native woods. The openwork and sculpted belt repeats the decorative theme of the umbellifers. The four corner legs are treated and carved in an arboreal style. The top is made of an overhanging, contoured plate. The paneled back is executed in walnut. Condition and restorations of use.

Signed GALLÉ in vertical japonizing letters in the marquetry decor.

Important:

From the La Berce des près furniture series by Émile Gallé, only this model of dresser had escaped all iconography, ancient or modern. Until today, only the preparatory drawings of the furniture, some of its details, and the execution tracing of the marquetry decor were known, all these documents being kept at the Musée d'Orsay.

Bibliography:

"Gallé Furniture" by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha. Antique Collectors' Club Editions, Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K., 2012. The preparatory drawing and the execution tracing of the marquetry decor of this dresser model, two documents kept at the Musée d'Orsay, are reproduced on page 330.