VASE

Between 1877 and 1884

Blown and hot-worked glass

H. 25.5 cm; W. 18.7 cm; D. 18.7 cm

Private collection

© Woolley & Wallis

_

Sotheby's, Decorative Arts including Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, Lot 8, London, September 25 - 26, 1979.

Collection of Victor Arwas.

Woolley & Wallis, British Art Pottery & 20th Century Design, Lot 540, Salisbury, December 11, 2013.

Woolley & Wallis, Clarice Cliff, Art Deco & 20th Century Design, Lot 220, Salisbury, March 5, 2014.

_

Tripod globular vase in translucent turquoise blue blown glass. The form is enlivened by several hot-worked and applied elements: the base, the neck, and the glass "tears" that seem to flow from it, as well as three thin undulating "ribs." Between each of these ribs, deep depressions, made in the glass, hollow out the body on its three sides. Their depth is such that they meet inside the vase.

Unlike many of Auguste Jean's vases, this work presents no enameled decoration or gilded highlights. This particularly rare absence gives the object an aesthetic of great sobriety and allows the hot-worked glass to assert itself as the sole ornamental language.

Several known vases by Auguste Jean adopt this same tripod globular form, but each is distinguished by the color of the glass and the composition of its enameled decoration. This example, however, stands out exceptionally for its simplicity, which highlights the almost sculptural dimension of the glasswork and gives it a singular modernity.