2018: Purchase of the two vases by the Michel-Hachet Museum of Art and History in Toul (inv. MT_2018.32. 1 to 4)
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Pair of vases in enamelled earthenware, covered with a celadon glaze and adorned with polychrome decoration of Far Eastern inspiration. Lush vegetation of banana trees, bamboo, palms, and grasses spreads across the entirety of the vases, in a subtle harmony of blues and greens. The lids are surmounted by figures of Chinese inspiration, taking the form of seated lions.
A cornet vase featuring comparable floral decoration, exhibited by Auguste Jean in London in 1862, allows this pair to be dated to the 1860s-1870s.
These vases testify to Auguste Jean's interest in the arts of the Far East, of which he offers a free and personal interpretation here. The continuous decoration, the palette of blues and greens, and its painterly treatment are in line with the Orientalist taste that was then renewing the French decorative arts. Like Théodore Deck and Eugène Collinot, Auguste Jean thus participated in the eclecticism that characterized French ceramics during the Second Empire.
Condition: Good state of preservation. Some losses.
Signature: Signed on the reverse, under the piece: “Jean AJ”. Other indented marks are present: “Bellevue / N° .5.”, as well as a turreted escutcheon with the “Tau” of Toul.
