A monumental earthenware pitcher
Oviform vessel with short, cylindrical neck, the spout supported by a sitting figure of a faun. The handle applied with a female figure supporting a child. The entire body applied with fruiting vines. Seven small astrological symbols below the spout, including Aries, Leo, Taurus, Virgo, Aquarius, and Capricorn. The handle restored (possibly replaced) and attached to the body with metal dowels (see x-ray), one leg of the faun on the spout restored. The base filled with plaster mass. H 49 cm.
Follower of Bernard Palissy, mid-17th C.
This ewer was already dated to the mid-17th century in Otto von Falke's catalogue of the Baron Oppenheim collection. The relief appliques indicate a provincial origin, possibly the former province of Saintonge or Normandy. Palissy's style was also adapted in Savona with highly similar reliefs, for example in the oval lead glazed panel in the Musée national de Céramique in Sèvres. A further bowl, attributed to Manerbe or Pré d´Auge (Normandy) with an identical colour palette, lead glazed mascarons and similar foliate decor can also be found at Sèvres (inv. MNC9908).
Provenance
The Milani collection
The Eugen Felix collection, auctioned by J.M. Heberle (H. Lempertz´ Söhne) Cologne on 25th October 1886, lot 98.
The Albert Baron Oppenheim collection, Cologne, auctioned by Rudolph Lepke Berlin on 23rd October 1917, lot 110.
Literature
Mentioned in Catalogue illustré officiel de l´exposition retrospective de l´art français des origines à 1800, Paris, 1900, p. 275, no. 950: "Grand vase décoré de fleurs et personnages en relief, par le B.on Oppenheim" among the faiences of Bernard Palissy.
Cf. also Viennet/Starosta, Bernard Palissy et ses suiveurs du XVIe siècle à nos jours, Dijon 2010, p. 83 and p. 140 f.
Exhibitions
Exposition Universelle de 1900 in Paris, Abteilung L´Exposition Rétrospective de l´Art Français des origines à 1800.