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Lorraine's Gifts to Russia In September 1893 Lorraine's finest craftsmen - Emile Gallé, the Daum brothers and Rene Wiener - set about creating gifts and as early as the end of October a public delegation presented them to Admiral Avelan, Baron de Mohrenheim, the Russian ambassador to Paris, and the Russian sailors. Alexander III was the intended recipient of the "Golden Book" and an inlaid table that acted as a stand for it. The Golden Book contained drawings and watercolours by Lorraine artists who had financed the production of gifts for Russia. Emile Gallé was entrusted with the task of producing the inlaid table as a stand for the album. While the works that were included in the Golden Book are not of particularly high artistic value, the Flora Lotharingia table created to Gallé's design is one of his true masterpieces. Gallé turned his attention to furniture in the late 1880s, when he was already an acknowledged master in the realm of ceramics and glass. But in this field too he produced some astonishing works. In decorating his furniture Gallé employed many of the same techniques used in his glassware - marquetry and carving, and the same motifs. Endlessly repeated orchids, thistles and ferns were included in the inlaid adornment of tables and little cupboards. Each of the works carried a message. The symbolism of this gift arises from the three regions of Metz, Meurthe-et-Moselle and Epinale. The names of cities and towns are woven into the floral ornament that decorates the tabletop. The choice of flowers and trees was deliberate as all the plants are connected with Lorraine in one way or another. They are either symbols of a city (the thistle for Nancy), or connected with its name (epine - blackthorn - for Epinal; lunaire - lunaria - for Luneville; charme - hornbeam - for Charmes-la-Cote) or grow in that particular place. Here too we find the fern, a plant that Gallé often used in his work, holly, heather, snapdragon, sweet cherry, lily and the Lorraine orchid. The selection of flowers is placed mainly to the right, while in the centre, where the book would lie, there is a coat-of-arms inscribed in a rectangle. The shield bears the Cross of Lorraine with lilies at the tips, entwined with honeysuckle, a symbol of a union of hearts. On the right are images of flowers and the inscription Pervincio, which in the language of flowers means "I join". Thus Gallé expressed in the allegorical language of flowers the sad tale of Lorraine, a province that had passed from hand to hand. To decorate the Hermitage table Gallé used the marquetry technique, splendidly exploiting the texture of the wood. At the same time he also used inlays of glass - symbolic teardrops that are worked naturally into the overall design. On 22 October the gifts were exhibited at the Town Hall in Nancy. Later the Golden Book and table were put on display in the throne room of the Russian embassy in Paris. All the events surrounding the creation of the table and its presentation to the Russian Emperor were described in detail in the press of the day. On 27 January 1894 the Russian ambassador to France brought the gifts to Russia where they were displayed in the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg. Then the table was moved to the Winter Palace. Besides items presented to the Russian sailors in 1893, the Hermitage collection also includes some pieces connected with the state visit that Nicholas II made to Paris in 1896. Among the various gifts presented to the Tsar were a pair of Gallé vases that are now in the museum. |
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