Vase with Daum Floral Decoration. Nancy, c. 1910.

Jean Daum (1825-1885), an Alsatian notary, started the company in 1878 after taking over a glassworks in Nancy that was in poor financial condition. It was only after his death that his two sons, Auguste and Antonin, gave the company an artistic makeover and led it to success by overseeing its growth during the Art Nouveau period, until it became a leader in the decorated glass sector at the beginning of the 20th century: Antonin was the main architect, both from an aesthetic point of view and in terms of experimentation and technical innovation. In the 1920s, Daum production abandoned the soft shapes of Art Nouveau to give way to a geometric taste typical of Art Deco.
On a technical-stylistic level, it is interesting to emphasise the technique used to give the ‘marble’ effect to the vase described here, which consists of including powdered coloured glass in the transparent glass, arranging it until the desired colouring is obtained. This technique represents one of the most original and characteristic procedures in Daum production.