A Sèvres porcelain vase with bathing figures
Painted with eight female bathers holding a large garland of laurel and roses. Black stamped mark S 1923 DN, black stamped mark Sèvres 1923 and "DÉCORÉ A SÈVRES" 1923, painter's and decorator's monogram "Lahalle MB", incised mark L.G.22.11.PN. H 71.5 cm.
1922 - 23, design and decor by Pierre Etienne Marie Lahalle (1877 - 1956).
"In the 1920s, manufactory director Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard (1878-1945), encouraged commissions to be given to artists with international connections. These included Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann (1879-1933), Henri Rapin (1873-1939) and Jean-Baptiste Gauvenet (1885-1967). They collaborated with the manufactory on major projects such as the Paris Metro, the furnishings for the Ile-de-France and Normandie liners, as well as the pavilions for the 1925 International Decorative Arts Exhibition and the 1937 International Exhibition of Art and Technology.
The painter and designer Pierre Etienne Marie Lahalle (1877 - 1956) created numerous models and décor designs for the manufactory from 1922 and 1933, including this large vase, fired in one piece, which we know was intended as a decorative or artistic object rather than a functional one because of its open base. The figures of the bathing women are reminiscent of the paintings of Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943), symbolist and founder of the Nabis."