Ernest-Baptiste Leveille (1841-1913) was a member of the Parisian “Society of Artistic Glass” and a student of François-Eugene Rousseau, a famous glassmaker, one of the founders of the movement. In the second beginning of the 19th century, France experimented a lot in the field of glassmaking: they created new types of glass, invented methods for coloring glass masses and glazes, and new ways of processing it.

In 1885 Leveille purchased Rousseau’s workshop at 74 Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. The workshop’s products were released under the brand name “Maison Rousseau et Léveillé réunies”. When Eugene Rousseau died in 1890, the company became known as E. Leveille.

Leveile created the models himself, encased them in the material and engraved them. His crackled and engraved vases were used by money. In 1902, Ernest Leveillé joined the Toy company, a manufacturer of porcelain and crystal, under the name “Maisons Toy et Leveillé réunies”.

Leveile’s glass work consists of pieces inspired by the Japanese lacquer style, made in an Art Nouveau style of mottled glass with spots imitating semi-precious stones. For his works of “cracked glass, polychrome oxidation and decorations transformed by acid and precision stone”, Leveille received a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889.