Cachepot Chaudron

This monumental form with vegetal ornamentation represents early collaborative work by painter Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer and ceramist Clemént Massier. With its inventive organic shape, the piece (identified in Massier's sales catalog as Cachepot Chaudron) seems to be softening under the intense sunshine of the French Riviera, where it was made. Etched and painted beneath the golden luster glaze, realistic grape leaves and scrolling vines transform what might have been a functional object into a decorative luxury item. Although Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer's signature does not appear on this piece, the decorative work so thoroughly resembles signed examples that the work can be attributed to him with near certainty. His complex Symbolist style, so far beyond the capabilities of his competitors, was never equaled. This vase recently returned from the Museum Magnelli, in Vallauris, France, where it was a featured example in an exhibition of work by Clemént Massier. Jason Jacques was invited to write the introduction to the catalogue of that exhibition.