Between 1877 - 1884
Blown and hot-worked glass, polychrome enamel decoration, gilt highlights
H. 51 cm; W. 14 cm; D. 15 cm
Private collection
© Expertissim
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- Expertissim, [name, date and place of sale: not specified], Ref: 2015050450.
- Coutau-Bégarie & Associés, Tableaux, mobilier et objets d'art, Lot 323 (paired with another Auguste Jean vase), Paris, November 29, 2013.
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Tapered tripod vase with a triangular base, in translucent ruby red tinted smoked glass, whose three sides are separated by wavy "ribs" in purple glass, hot-worked with tongs, as is the neck, also stretched with tongs. The body features a rich polychrome enamel and gilded decoration of Neo-Renaissance inspiration. On one of the sides, an elegant female figure, depicted three-quarters from the back and dressed in Renaissance fashion, is placed in an oval cartouche. The rest of the surface is adorned with a Bérain-style decoration, characterized by interlacing and foliage, associated with baskets and vases of flowers.
These motifs, executed in polychrome enamels with iridescent effects and heightened with gold, evoke the ornamental vocabulary developed by Jean Bérain at the end of the 17th century, based on symmetrical compositions, arabesques, and a profusion of floral and decorative motifs.
Several vases of comparable form are known today. The Design Museum of Ghent notably holds two smaller examples whose enamel decorations, unlike this one, are of Japanese inspiration.
