Pair of Glasses, c.1870

Signed on the base of the jar 'Galle a Nancy'. Part of a cabaret set or ‘verre d’eau’, intended for perfumed water. Josephine Bowes met the young Emile Gallé at the London International Exhibition of 1871 and commissioned a cabaret set from him. This is his first known commission for glass, and predates his work in the Art Nouveau style by twenty years. Some letters relating to the commission survive in the Museum's archive.