Émile Gallé was a French glass artist and one of the most prominent figures of the Art Nouveau movement. The motif of seaweed and, more generally, underwater flora and fauna is relatively rare in Gallé’s work. Gallé, who was born in 1846 in Lorraine, did not encounter the sea until 1870, when he served as a young volunteer in Toulon. The underwater world fascinated him, and he very soon incorporated it into his repertoire. The vase, made of orange glass overlaid with burgundy and featuring an etched seaweed design, is signed “Gallé” on the bottom.