Night, A Burlwood, Walnut and Marquetry Display Cabinet
By Emile Galle, circa 1890
With marquetry signature Emile Galle à Nancy
73 in (187 cm) high, 36 in (91 cm) wide, 19 ½ in (50 cm) deep
Literature
Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Gallé Furniture, 2012, p.299, pl.29
cf. Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, Glass by Gallé, 1984, p.204, no.314 – for a period photograph of Gallé’s exhibit at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champ-de-Mars, Paris, 1893, where this same model was exhibited
At the 1900 Paris Exhibition, Gallé exhibited a similar commode called Ipomoea, which was well received, and is now in the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Its exhibition inspired the commission of the present commode, Nocturne, for the important collector Henry Hirsch of Nancy. Hirsch did not like the discrete marquetry on the Ipomoea commode, so requested something different. The same framework was used but the morning glories on the broad panels of the Ipomoea were replaced by chrysanthemums and a mother-of-pearl butterfly. It is believed that no other Nocturne commode was ever made and this piece can be regarded as an undiscovered treasure.
