Milky glass paste tulips with cloudy decoration Signed under the side: Muller Frères Lunéville. Height : approx. 16 cm Opening diameter: approx. 10 cm Small diameter : 5.7 cm Perfect condition, see photos. The Muller family, originally from Kalhausen (Moselle), moved to Lunéville in 1870. Three of the brothers, Henri, Désiré and Eugène Muller, were hired by Émile Gallé as an assistant or as glass engravers-decorators. But, Henri Muller left Émile Gallé in 1897, stealing many secrets. He started his own glass decoration studio in Lunéville where he was joined by his other brothers, sister and father. His production was in direct competition with Gallé. Émile Gallé kept a persistent grudge against the Mullers. Some years before his death, he wrote (1904): “The wretch who leads the group must have taken lots of notes from my books as well as recipes, which were under lock and key.” Back then, the glass was blown at Croismare, in the Hinzelin glassware, then decorated in Lunéville. A second glass factory was established in Lunéville in 1910. Both factories specialised in art glass. Numerous high quality pieces came from there, very similar to those produced in the Gallé factory in Nancy : typically Art Nouveau vases, lamps and ornaments. The production was mostly made of multilayer glass, cut at the wheel or acid-etched with naturalist depictions. The nicest pieces had a flame-polished finish in order to give them a lovely brilliance. The Muller company prospered and the factory employed up to 300 people. Production later evolved towards the Art Deco style. In the 1920s, Muller created numerous ceiling lamps made of marbled glass (glass in several colours, with the pigments incorporated) or pieces made of moulded glass, the frames were brass, bronze or wrought iron. As a result of the great depression, the factory closed in 1936.