BOTTLE VASE

Between 1877 and 1884

Glass, polychrome enamel decoration, heightened with gilding

H. 27.5 cm

Private collection

© Sotheby's

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Sotheby's, 20th Century Decorative Arts, Lot 9, Paris, May 24, 2007.

Millon & Associés, Art Nouveau, Art deco, Design, Lot 17, Paris, December 3, 2015.

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Bottle vase with a flattened body and a tall tubular neck, made of translucent glass slightly tinted blue, resting on a circular base. The long, straight neck, slightly flared at the top, is animated by a hot-worked and applied element: a thick filament of amethyst pink translucent glass with metallic reflections, applied in a sinuous movement from the top of the neck to the shoulder of the vase. Its coiling and its end deliberately evoke, in a stylized manner, the shape of a snake seemingly coiling around the neck.

The body is adorned with a polychrome enameled decoration of Japoniste inspiration, composed of leafy and flowering branches as well as several cartouches featuring floral or geometric motifs reminiscent of traditional Japanese textile decorations. Numerous gilded highlights enrich the composition.

The uniqueness of this vase lies as much in its shape as in its hot-worked treatment: no other bottle vase of this type is known to date in Auguste Jean's production, making it a particularly rare model. The snake motif, here only suggested by the sinuous movement of the glass filament, also constitutes an infrequent iconographic choice in his production, and even more so in the form of an applied and hot-modeled element.