ArtistFrench
Daum Nancy
2 active items
Daum Nancy traces its origins to 1878, when Jean Daum, a notary from Bitche, took over a struggling glassworks in Nancy, France, after its owners defaulted on a loan. The factory he acquired was modest, but what Jean's sons Auguste (1853-1909) and Antonin (1864-1931) built from it became one of the defining glass studios of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In 1889, inspired by the success of Emile Gallé at the Paris Universal Exhibition, the brothers opened a decorating studio and launched Daum Freres. They assembled a creative team that included designer Jacques Gruber, sculptor Henri Berge, and the enamelling specialist Amalric Walter. The studio developed a visual language rooted in the natural world: thistles, dragonflies, ginkgo leaves, rain-drenched landscapes, and water lilies became recurring subjects. Layered glass, acid etching, carving, enamelling, and engraving were frequently combined on a single piece, producing the depth of colour and surface texture that made early Daum objects so distinctive.
By 1900 the firm had positioned itself alongside Gallé as a co-founder of the Ecole de Nancy, the art and crafts movement centred in Lorraine. At the Paris Universal Exhibition that year, Daum received a Grand Prix. When Gallé died in 1904, Daum became the dominant force in French decorative glass. In 1906 the studio revived pate de verre, an ancient technique in which crushed glass is packed into a mold and fused in a kiln, and developed it into a core production method.
After the First World War, Paul Daum steered the studio toward Art Deco. The firm won an award at the 1925 International Exposition of Decorative Art in Paris for work combining geometric etching with clear, saturated colour. Through the mid-twentieth century the range broadened to include white crystal tableware and gift objects, while the manufacturing base expanded to Vannes-le-Chatel.
From the late 1960s onward Daum pursued a sustained programme of artist collaborations. Salvador Dali visited the factory in 1968, declared pate de cristal a Dalinian material, and went on to produce 23 sculptures with the studio. Collaborations followed with Cesar, Roger Tallon, Arman, Hilton McConnico, and many others, extending Daum's presence from antique fairs into contemporary art contexts.
On the Nordic auction market Daum Nancy pieces appear regularly, with the studio represented at Auctionet houses, Bidstrup Auktioner, and several Swedish regional houses. The top recorded results in the Auctionist database include landscape vases - the Paysage series - and table lamps from the first half of the twentieth century. Prices in the database range from a few thousand to around 13,000 SEK for the landscape vases, while the 5,000 EUR result for a Paysage Pluie vase indicates stronger performance at specialist auctions outside Scandinavia. Cameo pieces from the Art Nouveau period consistently attract the highest interest.