Late 19th Century Émile Gallé “Animaux Héraldiques” Faience Plates - Pair

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Pair of early French faience plates by Émile Gallé of Nancy, circa 1870s-1904 from his documented “Animaux Héraldiques” service.

Hand-painted … Read more Pair of early French faience plates by Émile Gallé of Nancy, circa 1870s-1904 from his documented “Animaux Héraldiques” service.

Hand-painted in deep blue and ochre-gold over a pale bluish tin glaze, the plates feature Gallé’s wonderfully eccentric vocabulary of heraldic and natural motifs: a fantastical dragon-like creature, snail, butterfly, stylized flowers and scrolling ornamental devices. Both are finished with a blue-and-yellow leafy border and bear the painted “E. Gallé Nancy” signature to the reverse.

One plate is shallow and the other deeper, creating a complementary but intentionally varied pair. These early ceramics predate Gallé’s mature Art Nouveau glass and reflect his fascination with historicism, heraldry and the natural world.
A distinctive pair for display in a collected French, maximalist or historicist interior. See less