VASE

Between 1887 - 1896

Porcelain

H. 16 cm

Private collection

© Oger-Blanchet

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Oger-Blanchet, Collections modernes : tableaux - dessins modernes et contemporains - art nouveau - art déco - design, lot 143, Paris, Wednesday, November 23, 2022.

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Small gourd-shaped vase, known as "coloquinte", with a double bulge, made of fine porcelain, covered with a remarkable flamed glaze in shades of red, crimson, blue and purple.

Flamed glazes, inspired by prestigious Chinese porcelains, experienced a significant revival in France thanks to research carried out at the Manufacture de Sèvres from the early 1880s, followed by experiments by artists such as Ernest Chaplet.

This work belongs to a particularly little-known production by Auguste Jean. Based in Vierzon, the artist produced several porcelains with flamed glazes bearing the signature "NP/V". Eleven of these pieces were given by Auguste Jean to the administrator and curator of the Manufacture de Sèvres, or acquired by them after their visit to the artist's workshops in 1892 as part of a study trip, as evidenced by several articles published in specialized press.

Two other examples, comparable in all respects, are currently known. The first is preserved in the reserves of the National Ceramics Museum of Sèvres – Cité de la céramique; the second, from the former Jacquemin collection, was recently sold at auction.

This vase thus constitutes a particularly precious testimony to Auguste Jean's late research and his desire to experiment with the most innovative processes and surface effects in late 19th-century ceramics.