London Universal Exhibition - 1862
Polychrome enamelled earthenware
Possible biscuit from Toul-Bellevue
H. 31 cm
Collection of Aurore Cuyala
© thebaz
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Sold by thebaz on Ebay in 2019.
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Horn-shaped vase with a bulbous body in enamelled earthenware, covered with a celadon glaze and decorated with a polychrome design depicting lush vegetation composed of banana trees, bamboo, palm trees and grasses of Far Eastern inspiration. Treated in a harmony of blues and greens, the plants completely envelop the shape of the vase, within which a face is hidden.
The vase is reproduced in The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition (London, 1862, p. 201), then in Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture at the International Exhibition 1862 by J. B. Waring (London, 1863, vol. II, pl. 194). Among the ceramics featured on this plate, it is, to date, the only identified and preserved example.
Made before 1863, when Auguste Jean had his own manufacturing workshop, this work is painted on a biscuit most likely supplied by the Toul-Bellevue faience factory.
Highlighting an unknown facet of his work, this vase reveals Auguste Jean's interest in the arts of the Far East. Rather than reproducing a model, he offers a personal interpretation, where the continuous vegetal decoration, the subtle palette of blues and greens, and the resolutely pictorial treatment foreshadow the orientalist research that then marked the decorative arts. Like Théodore Deck and Eugène Collinot, Auguste Jean thus participated in the eclectic movement that revitalized French ceramics under the Second Empire.
