Pair of Vases with Fables by Jean de La Fontaine

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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)

Place of OriginSèvres, France

Date1866

DimensionsH: 15 7/8 in. (40.3 cm)

Mediumhard-paste porcelain, painted pate-sur-pate decoration

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society

Object number

1997.256

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 32

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 250, repr. (col.).Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, October 15, 2010-February 13, 2011, p. 29, repr. (col.) p. 29.Label TextThe Japanese-influenced decoration of these vases by porcelain manufacturer Sèvres illustrates two fables by Jean de La Fontaine (French, 1621–1695). The vase on the left depicts 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 ask 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”). Successive layers of white slip (liquid clay) are applied to the unfired clay vessel with a brush, building up decorative motifs in low relief. The decorator, Léopold-Jules-Joseph Gély (1820–1893), is known to have worked on this pair of vases for at least three months. In addition, the vases were glazed with pâte changeante (“changing paste”), which changes color in different light from gray-green to a pinkish hue.