Pair of Vases with Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
Artist: Léopold-Jules-Joseph Gély (pâte-sur-pâte decorator)
Artist: Louis-Etienne-Frédéric Blanchard (gilder)
Manufacturer: Manufacture nationale de Sèvres (French, 1740-present)
Date: 1866
Dimensions:
H: 15 7/8 in. (40.3 cm)
Medium: hard-paste porcelain, painted pate-sur-pate decoration
Classification: Ceramics
Credit Line: Gift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society
Object number: 1997.257
Label Text:The Japanese-influenced decoration of these vases by Sèvres, the leading producer of ceramics in the 19th century, was drawn from two fables by French writer Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695). The vase on the right illustrates The Heron, where a choosy bird looking for a tasty meal passes up many opportunities, eventually having to settle for a lowly snail. The companion vase shows the climax of The Frogs Who Asked for a King. Finding democracy too demanding, the frogs petition the gods for a ruler. Dissatisfied with the inanimate (but benign) log they are initially sent, they petition for a stronger king. The foolish amphibians are then sent a crane, who feasts on them at will.
These vases use a type of decoration known as pâte-sur-pâte (“paste on paste”), developed by sculptor Léopold-Jules-Joseph Gély (1820–1893), one of Sèvres’s most talented artists. Successive layers of white slip (liquid clay) are applied to the unfired clay vessel with a brush, slowly building up decorative motifs in low relief. Gély is known to have worked on this pair of vases for at least three months.
These vases use a type of decoration known as pâte-sur-pâte (“paste on paste”), developed by sculptor Léopold-Jules-Joseph Gély (1820–1893), one of Sèvres’s most talented artists. Successive layers of white slip (liquid clay) are applied to the unfired clay vessel with a brush, slowly building up decorative motifs in low relief. Gély is known to have worked on this pair of vases for at least three months.
On view
In Collection(s)