Glass Centerpiece from Daum, 1970s

Fruit bowl - glass centrepiece signed Daum-France. 68 cm long.The Daum family worked at the beginning of the Art Nouveau era and created one of the most outstanding glassworks in France. Established at the end of the 19th century, Daum's reputation was originally linked to the Ecole de Nancy [3] and the art of pâte-de-cristal , a major contributor in terms of its worldwide reputation.During the 1900 Universal Exhibition, Daum was awarded a ''Grand Prix'' medal. Daum glass became more elaborate. Acid etching (by Jacques Grüber ) was often combined with cutting, enamelling and engraving on a single piece of glass to produce creative glass masterpieces. [ citation required ] The more complicated creations also featured applied glass elements, such as handles and ornamental motifs in naturalistic forms. The Daum brothers soon became a major force in the Art Nouveau movement, seriously rivalling Gallé , so much so that when Émile Gallé died in 1904 they became leaders in the field of decorative glass. [ quote required ]In 1906, Daum revived paté de verre (glass paste), an ancient Egyptian method of glass melting, developing the method so that in the 1930s Daum's window panels used paté de verre to obtain wealth instead of leaded or painted glass. 4] Today Daum still uses this method to produce his pieces.