Ceramic Manufacture (1845-1895)

A. de Caranza  

Designer (1843-1914)
(attributed to)

Presentation Bowl

Manufacturer’s Mark of J.Vieillard & Cie à Bordeaux

France
Circa 1880

Earthenware, Gilded bronze

Height : 11 cm (4,3 in.) ; Diameter : 38 cm (14,9 in.)

Beautiful circular earthenware bowl with polychrome decoration painted under glaze and heightened with manganese-brown lines. The rim and background are adorned with a rich, compartmentalized historicist design, alternating rectangular cartouches and circular medallions. The latter feature stylized zoomorphic figures (confronted lions and chimeras), rendered in black on a white ground encircled in turquoise blue, evoking a heraldic and Neo-Renaissance repertoire.
The center is occupied by a large circular polychrome medallion depicting a coat of arms surmounted by a helmet. This central medallion is framed by an architectural motif in black and ochre reminiscent of cut leatherwork, with pronounced scrolls and projections, set against a dense reddish-brown ground covered with a repetitive vegetal design of scrolling foliage and leaves.
A wide circular turquoise-blue frieze with black scrollwork separates the central decoration from the rim. The chromatic palette (turquoise blue, black, reddish-brown, ochre, and white) is characteristic of the productions of the Jules Vieillard & Cie manufactory, which here draws inspiration from Italian Renaissance maiolica and Hispano-Moresque decorative arts, reinterpreted in an eclectic idiom typical of the 19th century.

The bowl is set within a finely chased and pierced gilt-bronze mount forming an openwork border decorated with regular scrolls and interlace, resting on three feet shaped as dog heads terminating in scrolls.
This mount, probably contemporary with the object, reflects the practice of enhancing decorative earthenware with gilt-bronze mounts intended for prestigious display in a bourgeois or collectors’ context. The whole illustrates the high technical and decorative standards achieved by the Bordeaux manufactory under the direction of Jules Vieillard, as well as its taste for learned historical references adapted to the decorative arts of its time.

Biography

Bordeaux knew at the beginning of the 19^th century a great development of fine earthenware due to the establishment of a manufacture by Boudon de Saint-Amans. That factory was however quickly sold to David Johnston, whom opened a factory in Bacalan that counted then up to 700 workers. The production became industrial, with printed patterns of varied colors. Jules Vieillard took after in 1845 David Johnston’s company. His work was crucial to the industrial success of the Bacalan manufacture and also to the artistic quality, which was unanimously celebrated during the famous Universal Exhibitions. His earthenware even earned the generic name of « Vieillard ceramics ». In his last period, Jules Vieillard developed an exceptional Orientalism through his creations. In 1865, his sons Charles and Albert, took after the factory under the company name of « Manufacture Jules Vieillard et C^ie », and produced a lot of various designed pieces, particularly decorated with birds and flowers. However, their printed decors were of quite poor quality. To solve that problem, they decided to renew the forms of the pieces, evolving towards fashionable decorative pieces, such as lamps, jardinieres and vases. As for the oldfashioned decoration, the artistic department worked hard under the direction of Amédée de Caranza newly arrived around 1875. This ceramist from Longwy, launched there in 1872 the famous eponymous enamels « Emaux de Longwy », renewing the ornemental vocabulary with his technique of partitioned enamel. His decorations mainly evoked the brilliance of Persian and Japanese objects. But, as Caranza left Longwy to Bordeaux, Longwy couldn’t keep  any longer its exclusivity. Caranza became then the manager of the Vieillard factory workshop in 1882, which knew thus a new momentum, until his departure a few years later, probably in 1885. The Vieillard factory closed down in 1895.

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Designer and Art Objects Editor
(attributed to)

Japanese style tray

France
Circa 1880

Porcelain, Gilded bronze

Length : 47 cm (18.5 in.) ; Width : 33 cm (12.9 in.)

Rare Japanese style diamond-shaped tray representing lake landscapes in cartouches, and adorned in its center with a lunch scene with a Japanese couple in traditional dress, all highlighted by a gilded decor of flowering branches on a pink porcelain background.

The whole is framed by a gilded openwork bronze mount ending on the sides by two handles.

Biography

“L’Escalier de Cristal”, an old and famous Parisian firm, specialized in glass products and ceramics but also suggested furniture and bronze sculptures. It was led from 1885 to 1923 by Emile Pannier’s sons, who gave the name of Pannier Frères to the society, located at the corner of Scribe street and Auber street, next to the new built Paris Opera house. Their Japanese style creations were among many others much appreciated by the critics and the public. They were awarded many medals at various exhibitions, such as the Gold medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition.

Lots of artists participated in that world success, such as Emile Gallé, who gave to Pannier Frères the exclusive rights of some of his models, or François-Eugène Rousseau, who designed many vases and gave the model of his successful Japanese style dining-set as well. This set was made by the Creil et Montereau Manufacture. In the Japanese style furniture branch, many famous makers such as Majorelle from Nancy, Edouard Lièvre or Gabriel Viardot worked for Pannier Frères. Some pieces are to be seen in the greatest museums : the Ermitage in Saint-Petersburg, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

The Maison “L’Escalier de Cristal” was sometimes the exclusive owner of the models and then those pieces were just signed by “L’Escalier de Cristal” or sometimes beside the artist signature. But “L’Escalier de Cristal” was also very creative, completing pieces with superb gilded bronzes, glass or enamelled panels and including often authentic Japanese or Chinese elements.

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France
Circa 1880

Porcelain, Gilt Bronze

Height : 15 cm (5,9 in.) ; Width : 31 cm (12,2 in.)

A charming pair of porcelain plates mounted in gilt-bronze, resting on three lions legs joined by fruits’ garlands. The plates are inserted in an ornamented gilt-bronze moulding with two foliated handles. A palm leaves’ frieze on dark blue background adorns the marli (the large border of the plate) and the central composition is of natural flowers.

This pair of plates is close to the production of the Sèvres Manufacture.

Biography

The Sèvres Manufacture of soft-paste porcelain was created about 1738 at Vincennes by bankers and financiers with the aim of making true or “hard-paste” porcelain, like Meissen did. In 1753 Louis XV became a major shareholder and the manufactory was transferred to Sèvres, closer to the Versailles Palace. In 1759, Louis XV bought out the other shareholders and Sèvres became the exclusive property of the France Crown. From then, the manufactory mark was a symmetrically crossed Ls (the royal monogram) together with a date-letter indicating the year. The period from 1756 to 1779 represents the most successful and prosperous years for the factory. Louis XV ordered large services for diplomatic and royal presents. The factory producing with success both soft-paste and hard-paste porcelain also invented in these years the most famous ground colors: the dark blue (bleu lapis) about 1752, the turquoise blue (bleu céleste) in 1753, the apple green in 1756, the famous pink in 1757, and the royal blue in 1763.

In the mid-nineteenth century, under Napoleon III’s reign, the Imperial manufacture had a period of great success. Much influenced by the art of the Middle and Far East, Sèvres implemented new techniques and created the « paste on paste » decors. With the disappearance of the sovereign in 1871, the manufacture of Sèvres lost his natural protector. The French Republic, after few hesitations, decided to keep it active.

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France
Circa 1875

Width: 15 x 15 cm (5,9 x 5,9 in.)

Elegant pair of 18^th century soft-paste porcelain dishes finely decorated in the 19^th century.

Medallions representing Japanese theatre characters dressed in traditional costumes, beautiful gold-embossed ornament on a polychrome background.

This pair of dishes is close to the production of the Sèvres Manufacture.

Background

The Manufacture de Sèvres, factory of soft-paste porcelain, was founded in 1738 at Vincennes by bankers and financiers hoping to discover the secret of making hard-paste porcelain, used in Meissen at the time. In 1753, King of France Louis XV became the main shareholder of the factory, transferring it to Sèvres, closer to Versailles and the castle of Bellevue, owned by la Marquise de Pompadour, very interested by Sèvres’ research and supportive of the works. In 1759, the King became the sole shareholder of the Manufacture, making it the property of the French Crown. From this day on, the Sèvres artworks were marked with the royal seal, two intertwined “L’s”, as well as a letter indicating the year of creation.

The period between 1756 and 1779 represents the most prosperous years for the factory. To support Sèvres, Louis XV made sumptuous orders offered as diplomatic presents. The main artists at the time, such as painters Boucher and Bachelier or sculptors Falconet and Boizot, worked for the factory. Research on the making of hard-paste porcelain kept going and succeeded after 1769. From this year, Sèvres successfully produced both soft-paste and hard-paste porcelain. It is also during this period that the most beautiful and singular colours were invented: bleu lapis in 1752, bleu celeste in 1753, green in 1756, famous pink in 1757 and royal blue in 1763.

The most significant pieces are ornamented with scenes inspired by engravings from famous painters (Boucher) and ornamentalists. They are also decorated with garlands, bunches of flowers, trophies, gildings… The fine quality of Sèvres’ production covers a large range of statuettes (Falconet’s threatening Love), full services (Rambouillet’s service is presented to Marie-Antoinette in 1788), as well as utilitarian or ornamental items. The role played by haberdashers in the production’s development is essential. They originated trends around Sèvres-designed products, such as Daguerre who decorated his most precious furniture with porcelain plates.

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Designer
(1821-1888)  

F. Barbedienne

Bronze-Caster
(1810-1892)
(attributed to)

Japanese Style Tray

France (for the bronze mount)
Japan (for the enamel)
Circa 1860

Height.: 13,5 cm (5,3 in.) ; Width.: 68 cm (26,7 in.); Depth.: 43 cm (16,9 in.)

Rich landscape in cloisonné enamel on blue and brown background imitating Aventurine stone. The décor represents a river surrounded by wisterias, chrysanthemums, peonies, iris and reeds, led by birds and fishes. A frieze with floral pattern frames the set. The enamel rests on a beautiful bronze frame with four elephants heads feet topped by handles with typical lambrequin from Barbedienne’s production.

Biographies

Louis-Constant Sévin (1821-1888) was first trained to design and sculpture with the sculptor Antoine-André Marneuf (1796-1865). In 1839 he went into partnership with two sculptors, Phénix and Joyau, and he created designs for famous goldsmiths such as Denière, Froment-Meurice and Morel. He fled to London during the 1848 Revolution where he worked at Morel, with whom he exhibited art works at the 1851 Universal Exhibition. Back to France he took part to the 1855 Universal Exhibition by creating designs to the Limoges porcelain makers Jouhanneaud and Dubois. Since then he worked as head decorator at Ferdinand Barbedienne’s Company. He produced a lot of works : he designed the bronze decoration for the Paiva’s Hotel (on the Champs-Elysées avenue) and created models for Ferdinand Barbedienne. He participated in different exhibitions and was awarded at the 1862 London Universal Exhibition for the artistical excellence of the furniture items he designed and which are exhibited by Barbedienne. He also received a Gold Medal as collaborator at the 1863 Central Union of Decorative Arts Exhibition.

Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) created and headed at n°30 boulevard Poissonnière in Paris one of the most famous 19th century artistic bronze casting companies. He owed his reputation to his bronze casting of Ancient and modern sculptures, which subjects came from the greatest European museums, but also to his original bronze works designed in his workshop and reserved for furniture and decoration. In addition to his own production, Barbedienne worked for renowned sculptors such as Barrias, Bosio, Clésinger or Carrier-Belleuse. Awarded with two Council Medals at the 1851 London Universal Exhibition, the Barbedienne Company won at the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition a medal of honour and eleven cooperator’s medals for the work of his co-workers, designers and chasers. At the 1867 Universal Exhibition in his capacity as member of and speaker for the Jury, he was non-contestant, but exhibited nevertheless with great success cloisonné and champlevé enamelled pieces. Barbedienne was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1867 and Commander in 1878 when he was compared with “a prince of industry and the king of bronze casting”.

Bibliography

« Les artistes de l’industrie, Constant Sévin », dans la Revue des arts décoratifs, Victor Champier, décembre 1888, février 1889, p.163.

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Designer
(19th century)

Elkington

Silversmith
(19th century)
(attributed to)

Japanese style Plate

England
Circa 1875

Diameter : 53 cm (20,8 in.)

Important tray made in gilded bronze and « cloisonné » enamel. Ornamented with a centering polychrome enameled peacock plaque, made of very high standard quality, mounted on a gilt-bronze dish, decorated in relief with Japanese Nô theater masks.

Biography

The great Birmingham firm of Elkingtons, was largely the creation of George Richards Elkington (1800-1865), who worked from 1824 in Birmingham as a manufacturer of silver-mounted scent bottles. By 1829 the business had expanded sufficiently for a branch to have been established in London. In the late 1830’s the Elkingtons began making experiments to apply the principles of electro-metallurgy to gilding and plating with silver and in 1840 the patent was at last taken out. Elkingtons owed their rise to a position amongst the most important silversmiths of the country to their exploitation of this new process and the two of the most famous designers then employed, both of them French, Albert Wilms (1827-1899) and Morel-Ladeuil (1820-1888), who helped to make Elkingtons’ reputation with their elaborate exhibition pieces.

Albert Willms was apprenticed as modeler and engraver to Klagman, Dieterle and Constant in Paris before working for Morel & Co. in London in 1848. On his return to Paris he was employed by the great Parisian silversmiths including Christofle and Froment-Meurice, for whom he designed pieces to be presented at the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris. It was during this period that he joined the firm of Elkington in London as head decorator. Elkington was soon to become one of the first to produce refined pieces in « champlevé » enamel in the Chinese and Japanese styles, which were presented with great success at the London Universal Exhibition in 1862 (see Masterpieces of Industrial Art & Sculpture at the International Exhibition 1862, J.B. Waring, London, 1863, III, pl. 211). Willms’ « champlevé » enamels could not be compared, however, with the delicate « cloisonné » enamels exhibited by Japan at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. This explains why Elkington adapted the ancient Japanese technique to produce pieces according to European taste and custom. Followings the 1867 Exhibition all the major European artists rivaled in ingenuity for the 1873 Universal Exhibition in Vienna. In London Albert Willms presented his luxurious vases and cups in « cloisonné » enamel for Elkington (see Illustrations of Art Manufacturers in the Precious Metals exhibited by Elkington & Co., Inventors, Patentees and Manufactures of electroplate, 1873), whilst in Paris, Ferdinand Thesmar (1843-1912) produced in the workshops of Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) a tray decorated with a golden pheasant in « cloisonné » enamel on copper and Emile-Auguste Reiber (1826-1893) designed for the Christofle firm, a large clock with matching candelabras in the Japanese style (Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Inv. O.A.O. 1360-1361) with « cloisonné » enamels executed by Antoine Tard. Albert Willms never the less became a specialist of « cloisonné » enamel on gilt metal between 1870 and 1876. The Universal Exhibitions where Elkington presented to the public his latest creations in the Japanese style, assured him a resounding success, as at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876 with an extensive set of vases and dishes in « cloisonné » enamel (reproduced in Contributions to the Centennial and International Exhibition at Philadelphia, 1876, London, 1876). Referring to his enamels the critics said « They surpass by far modern Chinese and Japanese works and approach the exquisite beauty of ancient Japanese pieces ».

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Earthenware Manufacture of Creil-Montereau
(19th century)

Orientalist dish

Signed by Cojoie AD, the decor-painter
and on the reverse, LM et Cie, the making mark of the manufacture

France
Circa 1845

Diam. : 50,5 cm (19,6 in.)

A circular hand-painted earthenware dish, decorated with an Orientalist scene depicting an Arab ridder and his servant getting out of a town. The piece is outlined with a black and fine gold banded rim.

Biography

In order to compete with the English production, the Creil (Oise) and Montereau (Seine-et-Marne) manufactures began producing « English style » white paste earthenware as soon as the eighteenth century. At Montereau, English potters refugees in France shared their skills with Louis Leboeuf (1792-1854). Under the Second Empire, technical innovations, added to the enthusiasm of the middle classes in the decorative arts, provided a production of fine standard, more accomplished and more diverse. The white clay was then relayed by the opaque porcelain, then whiter, harder and tougher. With the merger of Manufactures of Montereau and Creil in 1840, Lebeuf went into partnership with Milliet (marks « Lebeuf Milliet and Co. » from 1840 to 1874, followed by « Lebeuf and Co. » from 1875 to 1876). Both partners were constantly seeking to discover new and various techniques and patterns of decoration. This golden age lasted until the early twentieth century as the economic crisis appeared. A restructuring process was started and Montereau was preferred to Creil. The takeover by the Choisy Manufacture in 1920 continued the mass production until 1955, when Montereau definitely closed down its workshops.

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Designer & Art objects Editor
(Active from 1799 until 1885)

(attributed to)

A fine pair of “cloisonne” enamel dishes

Japanese “cloisonné” enamel
French gilt-bronze mounts

Circa 1880

Height : 4 cm ( 1,6 in.) ; Width : 43,5 cm (17 in.) ; Depth: 39 cm (15,3 in.)

Beautiful pair of polychrome « cloisonné » enamel display dishes decorated with birds flying over rushes and flowers on a sky blue background, bordered with a stylized foliate motif frieze. Finely mounted with gilded bronze ornaments such bamboos, masks and scrolls.

Biography

Alphonse Giroux and Company, famous curiosity and luxury goods shop was situated at No. 7 rue du Coq-Saint-Honoré and in business from the time of the Consulate until the end of the Second Empire. The company was founded by Francois-Simon-Alphonse and continued in 1838 by his two sons, Alphonse-Gustave (1810-1886) and André (1801-1879).
The father became a close associate of the royal family and specialized in the manufacture of refined items for gifts, winning a silver medal at the in 1834. Kings Louis XVIII and then Charles X were both supplied with gifts for « The Children of France » by Giroux. Making progressively small furniture, they were mentionned for the first time in 1837 in the class « cabinet-makers » in the Paris Almanach. It was Alphonse-Gustave, however, who really expanded the activities of the firm as is testified by the report of the jury at the 1839 Products of Industry Exhibition awarding him another silver medal. Alphonse was also quick to participate in the famous and soon figured among the best in the luxury goods business. After buying a writing desk at the 1855 Universal Exhibition Napoleon IIIrd bought several other pieces of furniture, candelabras and clocks from Giroux for the Compiègne Palace. In 1857 Alphonse Giroux transferred his shop to No. 43, boulevard des Capucines where he continued to do business until 1867, when he ceded the company to Duvinage and Harinkouck.

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