Vase with Cherry Tree Branches

Inspired by the Chinese glass he had seen during a trip to Berlin, Emile Gallé began to work with opaque colored glass in 1884. Within four years, he developed a technique of working with cased (layered) glass in which Art Nouveau or Japanese-inspired designs were etched through the outer layers with acid to create inexpensively a carved cameo effect. Most of Gallé's pieces were mass-produced at the glasshouse of Burgun and Schverer in the town of Meisenthal in eastern France. Production of his works continued there after his death until World War I.