This French Art Deco vase is press-molded in opalescent glass that shifts from milky white to pale blue and soft aqua as the light changes. It is a cylindrical neck set on stepped, faceted shoulders, over a gently swelling body that rests on a smooth banded foot. Around the body runs a continuous frieze of gazelles bounding through dense, stylized foliage. Feathered fronds and palm leaves fill the upper register, and a finely stippled ground forms the earth below. The animals are modelled in smooth, rounded relief that catches the light and glows with stronger opalescence, so they stand out against the crisply textured leaves. Leaping animals, lush vegetation and the contrast of polished and matte surfaces are hallmarks of 1930s French molded glass in the tradition of René Lalique. The architectural shoulder gives the vase the geometric discipline typical of the period. The vase is especially striking when lit from behind or within, when the full depth of the opalescence comes through.

About the Maker

Verlys was the art glass line of the Société Holophane Française, a subsidiary of the American Holophane Company. It was established in 1920 at a glassworks near Rouen to make vehicle headlights and other optical glass. By 1925 the firm had expanded into art glass and created a dedicated department under the Verlys name. Its first pieces were multi-layered blown vessels. From 1933 it concentrated on high-quality press-molded glass, applying the precision of its optical-glass expertise to decorative work. Verlys produced clear, frosted, iridescent and colored pieces with designs in the Lalique manner: plants, flowers, birds, fish and geometric patterns. In 1937–1940 the master glass artist Pierre d’Avesn ran the glassworks and set the house style. In 1935 the company founded Verlys of America in Newark, Ohio, but French Verlys pieces carry the “Verlys France” molded signature. Art glass production proved unprofitable for Holophane and was abandoned around 1946 in favor of headlight lenses. That short production window makes French Verlys pieces increasingly sought after today.