Circa 1880
Polychrome metallic glazed earthenware
H. 5.50 cm; D. 25 cm; Weight 360 g
Paris - Musée des Arts et Métiers I CNAM (Inv. No. 09740-0000-)
© Musée des Arts et Métiers - CNAM I Pascal Faligot
© Aurore Cuyala
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1882 - Acquired by the Musée des Arts et Métiers for 25 francs directly from Auguste Jean.
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Hemispherical bowl on a circular foot in metallic glazed earthenware, decorated with polychrome ornament in a harmony of gold, ochre, yellow, blue, and green tones. The surface is animated with daisies, volutes, and vegetal motifs, while the openwork base forms a delicate mesh. The reverse features a marbled design.
This bowl is part of the Neo-Palissy movement, which experienced a significant revival in the 19th century centered on the rediscovery of the work of Bernard Palissy (c. 1510-1590). Its form and decoration appear to replicate a bowl model attributed to Palissy, known in the 19th century by the names "colander" or "plate of a thousand flowers," and widely reproduced by his followers. This type of model notably inspired Georges Pull (1810-1889), one of the leading representatives of the Neo-Palissy movement.
While Auguste Jean is using an antique model here, which he may have known through its reproduction in L’Art pour tous, the encyclopedia of industrial and decorative art published under the direction of Émile Reiber on May 30, 1870, he distinguishes it through the use of metallic effects. Far from a simple historicist pastiche, he reinterprets a frequently reproduced model by applying his own research into surface treatment effects.
This work testifies both to Auguste Jean's interest in historical sources and to his research into the metallization of ceramics, to which the processes he developed and for which he filed a patent in 1889 are related. Its early presence in the collections of the Musée du Conservatoire national des arts et métiers also testifies to the interest shown during his lifetime in his technical research and its innovative nature.
