Suntory Museum of Art
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Footed Cup, "Cupid Chasing Black Butterfly"

Notable Works

Glass

Footed Cup, "Cupid Chasing Black Butterfly"

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Artist: Emile Gallé
Place of production or style: France / Art Nouveau
Number of components: 1
Dimensions (in cm): D. 8.0, H. (full) 15.6
Date of production: 19th century 1889

Emile Gallé created his own deeply spiritual world, in glass, ceramics, and cabinetry, in Nancy, France, during the Art Nouveau period. This black glass cup, displayed at the 1889 Paris Expo, lyrically presents the story of Cupid, the god of love, and the beautiful girl Psyche. Marriage between gods and human beings was normally forbidden; the couple had to go through repeated trials and tribulations before they could wed. Here Gallé actively corporates black, a color not much used in European craft arts, to express sadness, pain, and loneliness with rich poetic sentiment. 　This work is the type exhibited in the 1889 Paris Expo, at which he unveiled his black glass. Gallé adopted black, a color that had not been actively used in European craft works, to lyrically express the trials that Cupid, the god of love, and his wife Psyche, symbolized by a butterfly, had undergone and their sadness and suffering. （『没後120年　エミール・ガレ：憧憬のパリ』サントリー美術館、2024年）

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Notable Works

Footed Cup, "Cupid Chasing Black Butterfly"

SUNTORY MUSEUM of ART

About Suntory Group

About Suntory Group