Large fireplace in enamelled earthenware, entirely covered with tiles with a painted decoration in blue camaieu on a white background, in the style of Delft earthenware. Its architecture is punctuated by pilasters, moulded cornices and panels adorned with rich decoration mixing bucolic landscapes, mythological scenes, grotesques, chimeras, putti, terms, foliage, floral and ornamental motifs. In the center of the lintel is a representation of Aphrodite on her chariot, beneath which Auguste Jean affixes his signature.
Exhibition catalogues and inventories attest that Auguste Jean made several fireplaces during his career; this example is, however, to date, the only one identified. Its blue camaieu decoration, uncommon in his work, testifies to the artist's interest in Delft earthenware. Made in the context of the renewal of architectural ceramics under the Second Empire, this fireplace is part of the historicist taste shared by several of his contemporaries.
Condition: Good condition. Some chips and cracks in the earthenware tiles.
Signature: Signed "AJ Jean" on the central lintel.
