Style Other / Ref.13326

Théodore DECK (1823-1891), Glazed ceramic planter with a Japanese decoration, 1880-1890

This extraordinary cachepot was made out of glazed ceramic in the 1880-1890's by Theodore Deck. It has a very beautiful decor in shades of blue and green depicting the Asian fauna and flora. Indeed, we can find the representation of poppy flowers inhabited with butterflies and a tit.
This planter is a masterpiece, the artist demonstrates all his talent as a colorist in a subtle and precise work of polychromy. The richness of the composition is reflected in the many details of the planter; the thinness of the branches contrasts with the profusion of the leaves, flowers and buds that they support and which adorn, on all sides, the planter.
The beautiful celadon background is full of nuances and details. Delightful butterflies bring delicacy to the composition, their wings showing bright colors and, if they are all different, they contribute to the unity of the work by being present on the totality of the decor. Moreover, beautiful flowers with large, colorful petals stand on long undulating stems above an abundance of small flowers, buds, leaves and delicate herbs. The base of the planter is decorated with a frieze of green rinceau alternating with flowers with petals of a beautiful dark red color. The neck is adorned with a Greek fret frieze colored in the blue characteristic of Theodore Deck’s production that covers the entire interior of the cachepot.

After a wandering apprenticeship in Europe, in the begginning of the 1840's, Théodore Deck (1823-1891) comes back to France and more specifically in Paris, in 1847 and enters the Gaspard Victor Vogt (1808 – 1845)'s factory, led by his widow Antoinette Rose Vogt. Because of the 1848 Revolution, he returns to native city where he opens a workshop before returning in the Vogt's one in 1851. Four years later, it obtains a first gold medal in the Great Exhibition of 1855. After that, he decides to open a facotry with his brother in 1858 and collaborates with many painters that have already been successful in the Salon. We can name for instance, Albert Anker (1831 – 1910), Ernest Carrière (1858 – 1908) or even Sophie Schaeppi (1852 – 1921). Théodore Deck has also trained some artists, like the most famous of them all, Edmond Lachenal (1855 – 1948). In 1887, and until his death in 1891, Théodore Deck leaves the direction of his workshop to his brother to become the Manufacture de Sèvres new head. His brother died in 1901, leaving the direction of the Deck's workshop to his nephew who couldn't keep it, had to close it in 1905.

The Deck brothers exhibit for the first time in 1861, during the Exposition des Arts industriels in Paris. Théodore Deck receives there a firs medal dispite the critics on some cracked pieces. It's only the next year that he wins a true success in the United Kingdom by presenting the in the Great Exhibition of 1862 his famous blue on the Alhambra vase. The participations to the Great Exhibitions rhythms his career and become the engine to his technical breakthrough. During the 1867 exhibition in Paris, he receives a new silver medal and in 1878 he's named Officier de la Légion d'Honneur.