IMAGE DETAILS

Galerie Mathivet

Pierre Adrien Dalpayrat (1844-1910)
Symbolist vase, circa 1900
Stoneware vase covered in sang de boeuf glaze and beige with anthropomorphic decoration: a side face of a woman symbolizing beauty and youth and the other an old man grimacing , face disfigured by a notch and an insect devouring him one eye. Small restoration on the neck of the vase. Trace of the impressed grenade.
H 37 x W 32 cm

Dalpayrat is a major artist in the history of ceramics; he also won the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. This red Dalpayrat which he gave its name reinforces the symbolism of the subject here. This vase is exceptional on several levels. First of all, it is the only vase where two faces are carved. Then, the symbolist theme of good and evil, embodied by the beauty of this female face responding to the face of an elderly man whose tormented soul is reflected in the representation of a grimacing mouth, a cut in the cheek and of an insect devouring his eye. Finally, the quality of execution of the two faces is remarkable, as the sculptor succeeds in communicating various emotions depending on whether the vase is on the side of youth or on the side of old age.