Flared Rim Gourd

This vessel serves as an excellent example of Hoentschel’s own design vision, the influence of Jean Carriès’ work, and a split from the typology of art nouveau. The overall simplicity of this object speaks to the influence of Japanese ceramics on French pottery, particularly throughout the late 19th century, the matte and irregular glaze evoking that of the Japanese tea caddies in Hoentschel’s own collection. The uniformity of the shape of this vessel provides a canvas upon which the random potential of glaze as a medium-specific form of decoration is explored as it is applied and allowed to drip in asymmetric flow patterns. Three pronounced bands of color demarcate the neck, shoulders, and belly of this vessel; as a tendril of the white glaze reaches from the neck across the brown waist of the vessel to the green base, it works with the lateral symmetry of the vessel to give it a unity of form.