A 'Champignons' Lamp, Circa 1903-1904

If lamps were to become a significant aspect of the production of the Établissements Gallé after Émile Gallé’s death in 1904, this successful exploitation was built on the remarkable early experiments pursued in the last few years of his life by Gallé himself. With great imagination, he harnessed electricity to create lamps and light fittings – table lamps, wall lights and ceiling lights – that were both functional and expressive, the soft concealed light sources animating the colors and effects of the glass.

The rare present example, in the form of a mushroom and with a cleverly contrived sense of movement and life in the fluid form and swaying lines of the shade is a solitary companion to Gallé’s celebrated three-mushroom lamp ‘Les Coprins’.

The theme of the mushroom appears in various works by Gallé and by Daum. See lots 208, 209, and 210 in the present catalogue.