Charles Schneider (1881-1953) Large Art Deco Glass Bowl, 1925/1930. French Glass, Daum.

Exquisite large glass bowl by Charles Schneider, circa 1925/1930, with engraved signature on the base. Diameter: 36cm and height: 12.7cm. Perfect condition. Guaranteed authentic. This is a very large Art Deco glass fruit bowl by Charles Schneider, featuring a beautiful "intercalated powder" decoration in shades of tango orange with white, yellow, and violet flecks. It is mounted on a dark violet base adorned with white and transparent bands. An extremely decorative and emblematic piece from the Art Deco period of the Schneider factory. Charles Schneider glassworks needs no introduction; it is one of the most renowned in France, alongside Emile Gallé, the Daum brothers, Muller, Delatte, and Lalique. Charles Schneider also established a sub-brand dedicated to export, which he signed "Le Verre Français" (The French Glass), primarily featuring stylized acid-etched designs. Charles Schneider, born on February 23, 1881, in Château-Thierry and died on January 7, 1953, in Épinay-sur-Seine (Seine), was a French Art Deco glassmaker and co-founder of the Le Verre Français art glass brand with his brother Ernest Schneider (1877-1937). Ernest and Charles Schneider grew up in Nancy. In 1903, Ernest Schneider (1877-1937) was hired by the sales management of the Daum Frères factory and persuaded his younger brother Charles, trained in sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy and later at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to submit designs for vases and pâte de verre pieces. This collaboration continued until 1911. They founded their own company, Verreries Schneider, in Épinay-sur-Seine in 1913. The company's success was confirmed after the end of hostilities in 1918. It employed up to five hundred people by 1925 and sold its creations worldwide. After 1918, the first pieces with enameled floral and landscape decoration revisited pre-war designs as well as those of his friend Gaston Hoffmann. However, Charles Schneider quickly became the sole designer of the pieces. Gradually moving away from Art Nouveau, he developed a highly personal style, characterized by bright, powerful, contrasting colors and stylized, naturalistic motifs, perfectly symbolizing the Art Deco style of the interwar period. The company produced under two brands: Le Verre français and the Schneider line. The former aimed to be more accessible with 17 color variations compared to 32 for Schneider. It caused a sensation with its "butterfly" design, created around 1925, depicting red and blue insects against an azure, cloudy background. It employed complex techniques such as bubble glass. Some pieces were signed "Charder," an abbreviation of Charles Schneider. However, the glass market was severely affected by the Great Depression of 1929, leading the Schneider brothers' company to bankruptcy in 1938. After World War II, Charles Schneider and his two children revived the business at the family estate in Épinay-sur-Seine. Following the father's death in 1953, a fire ravaged the premises in 1957. The children continued production in Lorris (Loiret) until 1983, the year the Schneider glassworks closed permanently. Crystal then replaced glass, and the absence of color replaced the shimmering contrasts of the previous era. Robert-Henri Schneider was active until 1977. The Charder brand: Le Verre français (French Glass) was the largest art glassworks in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. A large majority of its creations, heavily influenced by the Nancy School, are attributed to Charles Schneider. The distinctive and judicious combination of shapes, new and diverse colors (yellow, mauve, tango orange), and decorations makes this artist's creations exceptional pieces, highly prized today. Jewelry bowls and black-stemmed bowls are renowned for the brand. Colored glass powders fused between two or more layers of clear glass allowed for an infinite variety of colored patterns. From 1926 to 1932, Le Verre français pursued legal action for plagiarism against the Verrerie d'art Degué company in Paris, owned by the renowned glass artist and industrialist David Guéron. The latter ultimately lost the lawsuit that nearly cost both rival companies their existence. The terms Art Nouveau and Art Deco glassmaking, having fallen out of fashion, saw a resurgence of interest in the 1960s, initially for Daum, Lalique, and Émile Gallé, and even more so in the 1980s with Schneider.