RENÉ LALIQUE (Ay, France, 1860 - Paris, 1945).
Tray "Marguerites". France, ca.1940.
Moulded translucent and opalescent glass.
Signed in the centre of the reverse "Lalique France".
Work reproduced in "Le Catalogue Raisonné del L'Ouvre en Verre de R. Lalique", by Felix Marcilhac, Les Editions de l'Amateur, p. 307, no. 10-385 with photo.
It has an almost inappreciable restoration on one side of the mouthpiece.
Provenance: Private Spanish collection, formed between 1970 and 1995.
Measurements: 36 cm (diameter); 6.5 cm (height).
Daisies are a recurring theme for René Lalique. He first designed this piece in 1933. A wreath of daisies in relief adorns the mouthpiece with a delicately fluted base.
The Lalique firm was originally founded by René Jules Lalique (1860 - 1945), one of the foremost glassmakers of the time, and one of the first to sculpt glass for great monumental works, such as the fountains on the Champs Elysées. He enjoyed great renown thanks to his original creations of jewellery, perfume bottles, glasses, plates, etc., in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. He trained with the Parisian jeweller Louis Aucoq, and then continued his studies at Sudenham Art College in London. The excellence of his creations and the taste he applied to his work earned him important commissions for the interior decoration of ships, trains such as the Orient Express, churches such as Saint-Nicasius in Reims, and numerous religious and civil goldsmiths' works. Lalique was not content with simply designing his models, but also founded a factory to produce them in large quantities, patenting several innovative glass manufacturing processes, and various technical effects such as "Lalique satin" or opalescent glass. Pieces by Lalique are preserved in prominent museums such as the Corning Museum of Glass and the Metropolitan Museum of Glass in New York, the Louvre and the Orsay Museum in Paris, among many others.