This mould-blown vase was produced using the lost-wax technique, a practice derived from a bronze casting process dating back to Antiquity.

Patinated in amber, the work is decorated with four medallions embellished with the heads of gorgons, monstrous creatures of Greek mythology, whose hair, in the form of snakes, intertwine with naked human bodies. The use of decorative elements which simultaneously repulse and attract is characteristic of the artist’s production and the Art Nouveau style.

The vase, a unique piece, is part of a set of glass objects produced in the early part of Lalique’s activity as a master glassmaker, which Calouste Gulbenkian, a friend of the artist, collected in considerable number.