Dallas Auction Gallery, The Fine and Decorative Art Auction, lot 282, Dallas, September 25, 2019.
_
Tripod vase in glazed earthenware with a long, slightly flared tubular neck and a flattened body at the base. The tripod base, with organic forms evoking branches or roots, seems to suspend the vase like a gilded bronze mount. The surface is animated by significant high-relief work: flowering cherry branches, clouds or volutes of mist, foam and droplet effects spread over the entire body and up to the rim of the neck.
The Japonist-inspired decoration combines several rectangular and circular cartouches featuring birds, butterflies, and floral motifs, composed in a nocturnal landscape with lunar and misty accents. Gilded accents and metallic effects enrich the composition.
A rare testament to Auguste Jean's late ceramic productions, this vase illustrates the artist's keen interest in Far Eastern aesthetics, both in form and decoration. Its organic base and the treatment of the material also echo his contemporary research in glassmaking, where a similar decorative vocabulary is found, based on plant motifs, relief effects, and naturalistic inspiration.
