Born in 1881 into the family of a wealthy industrialist in Brussels, Marguerite de Bayser-Gratry began to experiment with clay shortly after she married at a young age. Her passion for sculpture grew rapidly, and she soon made it a central focus of her life. She excelled in her work, receiving her first professional recognition in 1908, a prestigious award from the « Salon de la Société des Artistes Français ». Her work was inspired by her close observation of nature, and was also largely influenced by her numerous travels. She was particularly fascinated by ancient Egyptian art, which she discovered during a trip to Egypt in 1920, and its purity of line and symmetry became, in her own words, “the foundation of [her] work.” During the 1920s, Bayser-Gratry blossomed into a fully realized artist with her unique style drawn from nature and inspired by history, and during this decade her sculptures began to draw attention and acclaim. In 1925, she received the prestigious « Grand Prix du Salon des Artistes Décorateurs » and associated herself closely with sculptors François Pompon and Charles Despiau, who recognized her great talent and the distinctive force of her artistic style.

            Metalwork master Raymond Subes played an important role in Marguerite de Bayser-Gratry’s career. In fact, he exhibited a series of her « antique » marble and onyx vases on his stand during the famous « Grande Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes de 1925 ». This was her first major show which was a great success also because Subes used photographs taken during the exhibition in his publicity campaigns and art magazines of the day. Our exceptional vase was born out of this fruitful collaboration between the two artists and it is the only one we know of today.