Ref.10647
Albert DAMMOUSE and MANUFACTURE DE SEVRES - Important antique exhibition vase, "vase potiche allongée" model, with ibis on its golden wooden pedestal

This important antique vase with an ibis on its golden wooden pedestal was made by the renowned French ceramist Albert Dammouse in 1873. There is the Manufacture de Sèvres’s seal. This vase is both emblematic of the period’s decorative arts and of Albert Dammouse’s works who was known for his dexterity in the material treatment as well as his qualities as decorator. Albert Dammouse, whose father was sculptor at the Manufacture de Sèvres, joins the École nationale des Arts décoratifs in 1863 before study from 1868 Milès Solon’s lessons, also decorator at the Manufacture de Sèvres, at the School of Fine Arts. In 1871, he moved to his own workshop in the city of Sèvres, next to the Manufacture, until his death in 1926. Albert Dammouse is interested in all the ceramics, but his porcelains have made first his reputation. In 1874, at the Union centrale des Arts Décoratifs, he exhibits porcelains and gets the gold medal. He won then a gold medal at the third Paris World’s Fair in 1878 and built ovens and workshops in Sèvres in order to produce more works. Although Dammouse has his own workshop some of his works, such as our vase, are the result of collaboration between Dammouse and the Manufacture de Sèvres. This is the model "elongated ovoid porcelaine vase" invented by Jules Peyre and used by many artists with sometimes some variations such as this Chinese Vase No. 1 entitled "Pécher", made around 1860 and decorated by Marc Emmanuel Louis Solon. Renowned throughout Europe, the Sèvres factory, where this vase was decorated, remains at the end of the century renowed for its technical and artistic savoir-faire even if industrialisation was growing.Notably, thanks to the discovery, in 1768, of the first kaolin field in France by Pierre-Joseph Macquer and Robert Millot, two researchers at the Manufacture de Sèvres, hard-paste porcelain (made up of nearly 75% of kaolin), whose manufacturing secret was kept by Saxony, is finally developed in France. With this discovery, the Manufacture de Sèvres is developing, particularly from the beginning of the 19th century. The productions are characterized by their modernity and the diversity of styles. While the pedestal is representative of the 19th century richness of ornamentation and eclectic revival of historic styles, the vase is characterized by a certain lightness and purity, aesthetic appeared with Japonism. Nature is one of the favorite themes of Japanese art, and the vase is decorated with an ibis and a shrub around wich birds are flying. Indeed, Japonism, which inspires Europeans arts in the second half of the century, is one of the principal inspiration in Dammouse’s works. With the various exchanges that took place between France and Japan from 1858, the year of the signing of a commercial treaty, and the contribution of the World's Fairs, true international encounters, the West discovers the Japanese art that provides to the artists some new patterns and a new and refine aesthetic. In 1873, year of the creation of this vase, takes place the first Japanese exhibition in Paris. The art dealer Siegfried Bing opens the store "Art Nouveau", rue de Provence, around 1872 and where Dammouse will be exposed. Later, Albert Dammouse, who was inspired especially by flora, will be one of the first, concerning ceramic, to create Art Nouveau style works of art . This vase, with its decorative and sophisticated look, belongs to the trends of its time. In the same vein, Ferdinand Mérigot is at the origin of the Japanese decoration that adorns this pair of vases made in 1868 and whose model is also Chinese Vase No. 1, variant of our form. The pedestal in golden wood, inspired by Napoléon III style, is ornated with rococo bows and acanthus leaves. This very elaborate pedestal was specially created to highlight the porcelain. The vase does not have a bottom: the bottom is pierced, and thanks to a system it is possible to fit the vase to the base. Thus deprived of any practical function but destined primarily to the decor, it seems certain that this vase participated in an exhibition. Although Dammouse was one of the artistes of the great trends of his time, Roger Marx, in his Paris World's Fair’s report in 1900, wrote with relevance : « no material that he treated with a sovereign skill, no trend that made him lose the notion of composed decor », qualities by which he was renowed. « Dammouse is a skilled ceramist, but is above all an artist », wrote the critic Georges Vogt in his Paris World's Fair’s report in 1900.

Ref.13660
GUERET Frères - Splendid oak chest richly sculpted with a forest animal decoration

This splendid chest was made of oak by the Guéret brothers in the 1870. The sculpture work is truly remarkable and shows the virtuosity of its creator who makes a decor on the forest theme in which we can see a fox, a pheasant or even a bird with its wings spread out on the top, in a rocks and tree decoration. Denis-Désiré (born in 1828) and Onésime Guéret (born in 1830) create a factory of sculpted furniture in 1852 or 1853 at 7 rue Buffault in Paris under the name "Guéret Frères". Ten years later, the store is moved at 5 boulevard de la Madeleine, then at 216 rue Lafayette where it stays until the definitive closure. From 1877, the factory is managed by the youngest brother and becomes "Guéret Jeune et Cie", its activity continues until the end of the 19 th century.The Guéret brothers participate to each exhibitions from 1855, win a lot of rewards and acritic always eulogistic,like the one published in the Art Journal, about the InternationalExhibition of 1878 : “M. Gueret, a renowned cabinet-maker of Paris, contributed to theExhibition a large number of admirable works, designed with rare Art power, and executed with refined delicacy, in various woods – generally in satin-wood inlaid – all possessing thorough artistic merit”. The excellency of their work for the sculpted furniture making,often rewarded, increases their orders book. Rich bourgeois but also renowned personalities such as the Duke of Aumale, Napoléon III or even Mr Bryce, buyers of these sumptuous furniture, made some orders. Mr Bryce, for instance, ordered the realization of his whole furniture for his mansion on avenue Gabriel in Paris.

Ref.13732
Manufacture de Sèvres - Pair of vases Delhi model with a polychrome floral decoration, 1875

This pair of vases was made in the Manufacture de Sèvres in 1875 as indicates the mark under the base "S75". It is the Delhi model created in 1851 by Jules-Constant-Jean-Baptiste PEYRE (1811-1871), designer in chief of the manufactory in 1845-1848 and in 1856-1871. With a belly shape on the lower part and resting on a more narrow feet, this model with a long neck which is spreading as it extended, marked by a ring. Our pair of vases depict a delicate polychrome floral decoration on a plain white background and of which each part is limited by a gold edging. Under the direction of Victor Regnault, the production of the Manufacture de Sèvres has pulled away from the Empire inspiration to explore a modern technologic potential. This is how the pasta on pasta, the cross-linked pasta or trompe-l'oeil decoration were created. However, after the resignation of Victor Regnault in 1870, the new Republic Parliament threatened to cut the manufactory budget if reforms were not set up. Thus, the direction of the manufactory was given to the chemist and painter Louis Robert until his retreat in 1879 and an improvement commission was created in 1871. It's the ceramist Théodore Deck – member of the commission and a few years later director of the manufactory between 1887 et 1891 – who settled in 1875 a program for the reorientation of the esthetic choices and the creation of new technics executed by Carrier‐Belleuse and the chief chemist Alphonse Louis Salvetat (1846‐1880) then Georges Vogt (1880‐1891). This program promised the creation of a china closer to the oriental pasta allowing colors better glazed, the use of Chinese type transparent and opaque enamels in limited numbers, and the research of the copper red. From 1880, technical progresses are noticed and new decoration styles are spotlighted. The manufactory production under the Third Republic mostly answers to orders for embassies, ministers and other public and prestigious buildings. Nevertheless, vases stay the masterpiece of the manufactory production which develops the highest creativity to constantly renew the sizes and the models. A pair of the same model vases is conserved in the Mobilier National and illustrated on Second Empire et IIIe République, de l'audace à la jubilation de Brigitte Ducrot, published in 2008 in the collection Sèvres, une histoire céramique.

Ref.13600
Edmond Anne Antoine TAPISSIER « Les sirènes » Salon of 1896

This large painting was made by the painter Edmond Tapissier between 1893 et 1896. The artist depicts here a scene on a bank where three naked young women watch a boat far away. The composition is astonishing as the whole balance of the painting, which was tipping to the left, is re-established by the monkey and the parrot. The harmony of the colors is brought by the strength of the peacock and the parrot. Also, the pine branch which is going down the sea breaks the monotony of a too important stretch of water.Edmond is the second son of the silk merchant Antoine Tapissier and Benoite-Angélique Towex-Comte. Antoine Tapissier who stayed widower put his sons in the Collège des Chartreux in Lyon. In 1879, Edmond was 18 years old, he’s an elegant and cultured young man who is seeking for his path. He starts by following classes with the painter Chatigny who was the student of Picot and Chenavard. Chatigny knew Ingres, and was friend with Henner, Bertrand, Courbet and Manet. 1882 was the year of the drawing from nature learning and the first mural decorations. The following year he leaves for Paris and dedicates himself to the copies of the Italian and Flemish old masters. From 1883, the newspaper started to speak about him and recognize that “there is hope”. During the Autumn 1887, he integrated the Ecole des Beaux Arts and entered Cabanel and Cormon’s workshops. Tapissier made his first exhibition in the Salon in the same year. It’s in the period of the portraits tainted with symbolism that he’s making his debuts. He’s received by Puvis de Chavanne to the Society des Artistes Français in 1891. In the same year he decorated the chapel in Saint Étienne and composed there three large scenes of 3 meters, giving him appetite and knowledge for the large compositions.

Ref.12204
Large pink and green earthenware planter with plant decoration

This large pink and green earthenware planter is decorated in the centre with a medallion surrounded by scrolls and acanthus leaves, with two horizontal bands surrounded by a plant decoration of large leaves and flowers. Two bands of gadroons on three sides of the piece frame the central decoration, and are embellished with beehives in their corners. The piece is made up of different separable parts, as earthenware pieces, which need to be fired at high temperatures in a kiln, must have volumes adapted to the kiln in which they are fired. Each part was made separately from the others and then, once all the parts had been fired, they were all assembled to obtain the final work. Each part is signed by the artist, Pierre Perret, and by the place where the planter was produced, Mont Boron in Nice. The intertwining of plant motifs in the decoration, giving an effect of movement, and the imposing size of this planter are a perfect example of Napoleon III's reinterpretation of the Baroque style, however, the colours seem more markedly Art Nouveau, particularly the green that appears in the ceramics under the direction of the Massier family. A former notary of the town of Vallauris, located on the French Riviera, Pierre Perret worked from 1895 with the Massier family, owners of a ceramic factory. This family of ceramists innovated in the artistic field through their research into old techniques, such as glazed earthenware, or metallic lustre, but also showed great originality, characteristic of the works of the factory, with the search for harmony between green and purple with a floral and plant vocabulary of the art nouveau. In 1898, Pierre Perret bought the Mont Boron and Vallauris potteries from Jérôme Massier Fils (Jean-Baptiste). He sold them in 1901, but after going bankrupt in 1908, took over his property, finally selling it to Jean-Baptiste Massier in 1909.

Ref.15022
Théophile SOYER, Renaissance-Style Ornamental Dish, 1880

This enameled ornamental dish was created by Théophile Soyer in 1880. Théophile Soyer (1853-1940) learned his craft from his father, Paul Soyer, who was already practicing the technique of painted enamels, before joining the École des Beaux-Arts. He studied under Eugène Levasseur and Adolphe Yvon. He began working with enamel in Courbevoie, then joined his father's workshop, which he took over in 1896. He exhibited for the first time at the Salon in 1870, then regularly between 1875 and 1882, as well as at the Expositions of the Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts starting in 1876. His great technical mastery was rewarded with a silver medal at the World’s Fair in 1889, and then a gold medal in 1900. Soyer actively participated in the artistic life of his time: he was successively Vice-President of the Chamber of Ceramics and Glassware and President of the Société des Éclectiques, a humorous society founded in 1872 by etchers and poets. He married Eugénie Dejoux, a painter-enameler of Genevan origin, with whom he had a daughter, Jeanne, who worked with her parents before marrying in 1906. Théophile Soyer's work was part of the troubadour and Neo-Renaissance movements, at a time when past styles were in vogue.