Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
French, 1923-2020
Marie-Thérèse Espelt, known better as Mithé Espelt, was a dominant force in mid-20th-century ceramics in France. Mithé is remembered for her modern ceramic wall mirrors, gilded and enameled ashtrays and other ornate objects and boxes, often featuring birds and lively colors. She preferred not to sign her pieces and, as a consequence, much of her work has been misattributed, including to French ceramist François Lembo.
Mithé grew up in the Camargue region of France. Her father’s extensive network included 1904 Nobel Prize winner Frédéric Mistral and Parisian painter and decorator Jean Hugo. Mithé’s early introduction to a community of artists inspired her to study sculpture and drawing at the Beaux-Arts School in Montpellier in 1939.
Mithé’s early work caught the attention of French ceramist Emilie Decanis and jewelry distributor Charles Démery. Mithé set up a ceramics workshop in the Hôtel de Bernis in Lunel, where she quickly garnered a reputation for her ceramic work and accessories, including mirrors, jewelry boxes and buttons. Démery founded the Souleiado boutique, which began distributing Mithé’s work, thus attracting a worldwide audience.
French author Antoine Candau wrote a retrospective book on Mithé’s career titled Mithé Espelt, the Discreet Luxury of the Every Day, which contributed to bringing her legacy to the forefront while shedding light on her anonymity. While Mithé was respected within her inner circle, the general public is only now beginning to understand the immense talent behind her over five-decade-long career.
Find Mithé Espelt mirrors, decorative objects, wall decorations and more for sale on 1stDibs.
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Creator: Mithé Espelt
Set of Vintage Jewellery Holders with Decorative Ceramic Lids by Mithé Espelt
By Mithé Espelt
Located in London, GB
Vintage French jewellery containers with decorative ceramic lids by Mithé Espelt (circa 1970s). Flower and Bird motifs decorate these five delightful, diminutive wooden boxes. Two of the ceramic lids have golden craqueleur boundaries encircling the inner decoration. The containers would be an attractive grouping on the surface of a vanity or dressing table. Alternatively, they might simply be suitable as a splendid decorative display in the home. The pieces are in good overall condition with some minor natural differences in the colour of the woods. The overall charm is undeniable and they are real collector's items. Please enjoy the many photos accompanying the listing. Upon request, a video will be provided.
About the artist: Born in 1923 in Lunel, in the South of France, Mithé Espelt grew up in a family of affluent winegrowers and was very close to her grandfather who passed on his love for the arts and brought her into contact with major intellectuals and artists of the time. She rubbed shoulders with Jean Hugo, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Christian Bérard and many others. She graduated from the Beaux-Arts school in Montpellier in 1942, and then studied at the Fontcarrade school where she took a special interest in ceramics. She began by designing buttons for fashion houses in Paris, before managing the entire production of buttons and jewellery at the Lydia Chartier workshop and collaborating with Line Vautrin, amongst others. At the end of the war, she returned to her native south, opened her studio and took advantage of the growing excitement around ceramics, particularly those from the town of Vallauris. To stand out and sustain the workshop business, she started designing gilded jewellery...
Category
1970s French Vintage Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Ceramic, Wood
$1,896 Sale Price / set
30% Off
Box Bird bronze
By Mithé Espelt
Located in Paris, FR
This elongated box is topped by a stamped earthenware lid decorated with gold enamel. For Mithé Espelt, the object is an essential element of the boudoir. It is both useful and an od...
Category
1960s French French Provincial Vintage Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Gold Leaf
$2,127
Flowers Jewellery box
By Mithé Espelt
Located in Paris, FR
Glazed ceramic jewellery box with flowers and blackened wooden base.
This beautiful jewelry box is topped with a stamped earthenware lid and decorated with a floral enamel motif fea...
Category
1960s French Provincial Vintage Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Ceramic, Wood
$1,773
Box Birds
By Mithé Espelt
Located in Paris, FR
This wooden box is topped by a stamped earthenware lid decorated with bluish, green and white polychrome enamels. For Mithé Espelt, the object is an essential element of the boudoir....
Category
1960s French French Provincial Vintage Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Ceramic, Wood
$1,773
Little flower
By Mithé Espelt
Located in Paris, FR
A jewelry box created as a tribute to the American musician and composer Sidney Bechet, by one of the leading figures in 20th-century French ceramics, who turned her art into an ode ...
Category
1960s French French Provincial Vintage Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Enamel, Gold Leaf
$1,123
The Two Doves and the Branch
By Mithé Espelt
Located in Paris, FR
Radiance in a corner
This wooden box is topped by a stamped earthenware lid decorated with orange and scarlet polychrome enamels. For Mithé Espelt, the object is an essential elemen...
Category
Late 20th Century French French Provincial Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Ceramic, Wood
Sunflower Jewelry Box
By Mithé Espelt
Located in Paris, FR
Slight enamel skip on one corner
This wooden box is topped by a stamped earthenware lid adorned with burgundy enamel and a golden sunflower, offering a precious warm and luminous ha...
Category
1960s French French Provincial Vintage Mithé Espelt Jewelry Boxes
Materials
Gold Leaf
$1,123
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Mithé Espelt jewelry boxes for sale on 1stDibs.
Mithé Espelt jewelry boxes are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of ceramic and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Mithé Espelt jewelry boxes, although orange editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original jewelry boxes by Mithé Espelt were created in the mid-century modern style in france during the 20th century. Prices for Mithé Espelt jewelry boxes can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $2,527 and can go as high as $3,250, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $2,580.