Theodore Deck (1823-1891) , A Chinese Archaïc Taste Blue Faience Vase circa 1875

View Similar Items

Theodore Deck '1823-1891', a Japonisme Polychromed Faience Quadrangular Vase

Théodore Deck (1823-1891), Miniature Pair of Faience Vases circa 1870

Pair of Ormolu-Mounted Theodore Deck Faience Persian-Blue Vases with Lampshades

Théodore Deck, Ceramic Vase, Signed, circa 1870

Pair of Theodore Deck Vases

Large Theodore Deck Earthenware Bottle Form Vase in the Islamic/Iznik Taste

Archaic Chinese Bronze Vase

Pair of French Faience Vases, Luneville, circa 1875

Pair of Gilt Bronze Mounted Faience Lamps by Deck

Egyptian Blue Faience French Vase, circa 1920

20th Century Chinese Archaic Style Bronze Wine Vessel Vase & Stand

Blue and White Faience Vase Delft, circa 1920

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 15

Theodore Deck (1823-1891) , A Chinese Archaïc Taste Blue Faience Vase circa 1875

About the Item

A Theodore Deck (1823-1891) Faience Persian blue, " Bleu Deck" Diabolo shape Vase Moulded in low relief and incised with fretwork and scrolls pattern in the Chinese Archaistic taste, Impressed Uppercase TH.DECK mark. circa 1875 Illustrated in "Théodore Deck ou l'éclat des émaux 1823-1891", Exhibition Catalogue held in Musée de Marseille, under # 24 page 54 Born in Guebwiller in Alsace, Théodore Deck trained as a ceramist in his home region, then in Germany. He went into partnership with his brother, Xavier Deck, to create his own factory in Paris in 1858. At the Exhibition of Industrial Arts in 1864, he presented pieces covered with transparent enamels that were not cracked, and then made his first attempts at reliefs under transparent enamels. He developed a bright turquoise color, famously renowned as "Bleu Deck". It is this nuance that we find on the salamander represented on this vase. In 1887 he published a treatise entitled "La Faïence", in which he explained some of his discoveries. That same year, he became director of the Manufacture de Sèvres. Theodore Deck (1823-1891) is a French ceramist born in Guebwiller in Alsace. He is passionate about chemistry and the physical sciences. In 1841, he joined the master stove maker Hügelin father as an apprentice in Strasbourg. In two years, he learned of the methods inherited from the 16th century, such as the encrustation of colored pastes in the style of Saint-Porchaire. This apprenticeship did not prevent him from spending his free time draw-ing or modeling clay in the studio of sculptor André Friederich. Escaping military service, he made a tour of Germany as is the tradition with fellow Alsatian stove-makers. The quality of his work allows him to obtain important orders in Austria for the castles of the provinces and the imperial palaces, in particular for the palace of Schönbrunn. He continues his journey in Hungary to Pest, to Prague, then, going north through Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg. On the strength of his apprenticeship, he arrived in Paris in 1847. Recommended by Hügelin, he went to the stove factory of the Bavarian potter Vogt, located rue de la Roquette. The Revolution of 1848 interrupts production and Deck decides to return to his hometown. His family then advised him to set up a small terracotta workshop: he made a few busts, statuettes, vases, lamps and copies of famous antiques there. Aware that this situ-ation would not allow him to provide for himself properly, he returned to Paris in 1851 where he was employed by the widow Dumas, daughter of the earthenware maker Vogt for whom he had worked. Hired as a foreman, he supplied the drawings and models to the workers, while working the land himself. The following year, he made the decision to settle not far from his former employer at 20, rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, probably using his ovens. His brother, Xavier Deck, joins him. It was officially in 1858 that the Deck brothers created their business and settled in Paris at 46, boulevard Saint-Jacques. Initially, the brothers only carry out coatings for stoves. But the business is going so well that barely a year after their installation, they want to diversify their production and engage in ceramics for the cladding of buildings as well as in shaped parts. Deck is interested in politics. In 1870, he opted for French nationality and was elect-ed deputy mayor in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. In 1861, at the Salon des arts et industries de Paris, which was held on the Champs-Élysées, Théodore Deck exhibited his works for the first time: these were pieces with an inlay decoration called “Henri II” and others. pieces covered with turquoise blue enamel or decoration in the style of Iznik ceramics.If he wins a silver medal, reviews are mixed, however. The following year, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1862 in London, he won over English customers. He surprised by presenting, like the previous year, his Alhambra Vase of exceptional dimensions (1.36 m in height and 2.25 m in circumference) which was purchased by the South Kensington Museum a few years later. At this same exposure, however, we notice the numerous cracks in its glaze and its poor adhesion to the dough. At the Indus-trial Arts Exhibition of 1864, Deck managed to present pieces coated with transparent, non-cracked enamels, and then made his first attempts at reliefs under transparent enamels. He developed a bright turquoise colour, which he named "Bleu Deck". Théodore Deck explained the manufacture and qualities of these transparent enamels when he published his treatise La faïence in 1887. A year later, he made the first tests of reliefs in transparent enamels. He will never abandon this technique which will also be taken up by several large manufacturers. Inspired to pastiche by Islamic, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese ceramics or majolica, he makes characters, birds, flowers, ornaments of all kinds evolve un-der a turquoise, green, yellow or manganese glaze. It is above all a characteristic blue that the public retains from this technique: a dazzling turquoise shade that it immediately adopts under the name of Bleu de Deck or Bleu Deck. Théodore Deck continues to innovate, at the Universal Exhibition of 1867, the factory received a silver medal thanks, among other things, to the metallic reflections it obtained on certain pieces. If these exhibitions become the engine of these technical advances, they none-theless represent heavy expenses. In 1869, Théodore Deck opened a sales store on rue Halévy in the Parisian district of the Opera, which was run by his sister. At the 1873 World's Fair in Vienna, he presented a spectacular two-meter-wide planter, leaning against a panel nearly four meters high. The whole, kept in Geneva at the Ariana Museum, was made from the drawings of Émile-Auguste Reiber. Théodore Deck was appointed in 1875 at the head of the improvement commission of the Manufacture de Sèvres. As soon as they settle in, the Deck brothers bring together their artist friends at home and set up a principle of collaboration. Following this principle, Deck makes dishes, tiles or plates (very rarely vases) that he gives to paint to artists who have for many already proven themselves at the Salon. The sales gains are divided into two equal parts. Deck also trains apprentices who will in turn go to school. The most famous of them, Edmond Lachenal, will continue the work of the great ceramist by developing his art in the spirit of Art Nouveau. Author of a masterful treatise on earthenware, he became in 1887 - supreme recognition - director of the National Manufacture of Sèvres and left to his brother Xavier, as well as his nephew Richard, the management of their company. He produced soft porcelain there and, by improving the manufacturing technique, succeeded in giving them grandiose dimensions, covering them with his celadon glazes and turquoise blue. Théodore Deck has been resting since 1891 in Paris in the Montparnasse cemetery. It was his friend Auguste Bartholdi who made his funeral monument on which is engraved the sentence: "He snatched fire from the sky". The Deck workshops will close a few years after his death. It was his friend Auguste Bartholdi who made his funeral monument on which is engraved the sentence: "He snatched fire from the sky". The Deck workshops will close a few years after his death. It was his friend Auguste Bartholdi who made his funeral monument on which is engraved the sentence: "He tore fire from the sky". The Deck workshops will close a few years after his death. Joseph-Théodore Deck was born in 1823 in Guebwiller, a commune in Haut-Rhin. He dreamed of becoming a sculptor but his humble origins oriented him towards a more prosaic profession: that of ceramic potter. He learned the technique of ceramics as a manufacturer of covered ovens with ceramic tiles and traveled to Germany, Hungary and Austria to improve his skills. At the age of 24, he moved to Paris to practice his art and worked in a fac-ory that made ceramic kilns. He opened his own earthenware workshop in 1856 with his brother and his nephew and specialized in the oriental style and more particularly in the Iznik style. In the 1880s he explored the Chinese tradition and collaborated with Raphaël Collin, an academic painter professor at the Academy of Fine Arts recognized for the links he forged between French art and Japanese art both in painting. and ceramic. He published a treatise on the art of earthenware in 1887. Deck's contemporary sculptors and painters made frequent visits to the Deck workshop, which thus became an experimental laboratory to promote ceramics as an art and no longer simply as an industrial application. It was while attending the National Porcelain Museum in Sèvres that Deck studied Islamic art. Deck discovered that the brilliance of oriental ceramics was due to an alkaline base containing tin oxide. The decorations are covered with a transparent coating which produces a shiny and translucent effect. After many trials and experiments, Deck succeeded in perfecting this technique and created Deck Blue, his famous turquoise blue using potash, soda ash and chalk. Deck presented his first collection of louvered earthenware at the Paris Exhibition of 1861 but it was at the London Exhibition of 1862 that he was officially recognized as an artist when the Victoria and Albert Museum bought three of his works. He received a silver medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1867. Deck copied many Iznik ceramics but also created his own variations around the oriental theme by assembling various patterns on a single work.

Creator:
Theodore Deck (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 10.24 in (26 cm)Diameter: 5.91 in (15 cm)
Style:
Chinese Export (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Faience,Enameled
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1870-1879
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1875
Condition:
Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor structural damages. small lacks of enamel professionally restored.
Seller Location:
Saint-Ouen, FR
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU2612329707072