Vase aux écureuils (Vase with squirrels)

Trained at Sèvres Manufacture’s School between 1902 and 1906, where he met Henry Cros, a pâte de verre expert, Gabriel Argy-Rousseau showed his interest for this specific technique quite early.  He nonetheless hesitated in the direction he wanted to work in, and in 1921 he decided to continue his artistic career in pâte de verre, and founded the Argy-Rousseau Pâtes de Verre Society in 1921. From that time and for roughly fifteen years, he created nearly three hundred and fifty models of vases, lamps, dishes and lanterns produced on average with a few dozen specimens for each of them.  The vase known as Vase aux écureuils dans l’herbe (Vase with squirrels in the grass) - though the animal looks like a dormouse, - dates back to 1928. This specimen though, with its brown and ochre colours, could be slightly later. Donated by the art connoisseur Barlach Heuer, this vase with its generous shapes enriches our collection of decorative objects made from pâte de verre in our Conches Glass Museum, one of our key collections.