VASE

Between 1877 and 1884

Blown and hot-worked glass, polychrome enameled decoration, gilded highlights

H. 23 cm; D. 23.2 cm; P. 13.1 cm

Düsseldorf - Glasmuseum Hentrich, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast (mkp.LP 2009-15)

© Glasmuseum Hentrich, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast

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- Gerda Koepff Collection (1919 - 2006).

- Donated by Gerda Koepff to the Glasmuseum Hentrich, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast.

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Important flat-sided gourd-shaped vase, made of translucent smoked amber blown glass, resting on a circular base. Several elements are hot-worked, including the base, the neck, and the "tears" that escape from it and extend in drips on the body, accentuating the organic character of the form.

The surface is adorned with a rich polychrome enameled decoration of Japonisme inspiration, combining flowers—iris and water lilies in particular—aquatic plants, and a carp leaping out of the water, ready to eat a grasshopper. Gilded highlights and metallic effects further enrich the composition, lending this work a particularly precious and refined character.

Several vases by Auguste Jean adopt this same shape, but each is distinguished by the color of the glass and the composition of its enameled decoration. These variations make each piece a truly unique work, like the vase recently acquired by the Musée du verre de Conches-en-Ouche.