Commode, The Blood of Armenia or The Field of Blood
Date: 1900
Materials and technics: Turkish walnut, marquetry in various woods, onyx
Dimensions: H. 83 x w. 85 x d. 51 cm
Inscriptions : Signed on the central panel, on the left: "Gallé"; Inscription on the apron: "Prenez garde à la sombre équité, prenez garde”. Victor Hugo".
Inventory number: PPO03818
Acquisition details: Purchase, 2015
Room: 19
Commode, The Blood of Armenia or The Field of Blood
Date: 1900
Materials and technics: Turkish walnut, marquetry in various woods, onyx
Dimensions: H. 83 x w. 85 x d. 51 cm
Inscriptions : Signed on the central panel, on the left: "Gallé"; Inscription on the apron: "Prenez garde à la sombre équité, prenez garde”. Victor Hugo".
Inventory number: PPO03818
Acquisition details: Purchase, 2015
Room: 19
This piece of furniture, titled The Blood of Armenia or The Field of Blood, which was the title Gallé himself gave to his entry for the World Exhibition in 1900, is a striking testimony to the artist from Nancy’s concern for the Armenians persecuted by the Ottoman sultan Abdul-Hamid.
The choice of woods, (Turkish walnut for the frame, and peach wood, Armenia’s national tree, for the marquetry) and the composition of the decoration which displays tulips flattened and swept away by the wind, are very evocative. On the sides, cities in flames and silhouettes of minarets clearly reveal the location of the depicted scene.
A quote by Victor Hugo taken from The Legend of Ages (XXXIII. Le cercle de tyrans), “Beware of obscure equity, beware”, underlines the symbolic content of the furniture and rings out like a warning.
This commode reveals the humanist side of Émile Gallé, who was an active artist, an ardent defender of human rights and a resolute supporter of Captain Dreyfus. It also confirms the comments by the art critic Roger Marx, according to whom Gallé was a man in three parts (“homo triplex”): a glassmaker, ceramicist and cabinetmaker.
D. M.
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