Émile Decoeur

Foliate Mallet C0099

Inventory Number
C0099Size
10" H x 3 3/4" WMaterial
StonewarePeriod
Art NouveauCountry of Origin
FranceYear Made
c1904Status
AvailableCondition
Excellent

Description

This model, exhibited around 1905, would have been executed during the earliest years of Decoeur's independent studio production after leaving Edmond Lachenal's atelier (by 1904). Ingeniously designed, the body derives its form from overlapping vertical leaves whose tips protrude to create small flanges around the shoulder. Although related to forms that Decoeur had created for Lachenal, the vase is distinguished by the use of vegetal lines of Art Nouveau into a traditional Chinese mallet shape. The radial symmetry of the foliate motif helps to conserve the form's essential stability. The piece already exhibits a formal equilibrium that would fully manifest itself in the ceramist's Far Eastern classicism of the 1910s and 1920s. Marks: E Decoeur [painted]; trefoil [impressed]