Louis-Robert CARRIER-BELLEUSE et FAÏENCERIE DE...

Louis-Robert CARRIER-BELLEUSE (1848 - 1913) and FAÏENCERIE DE CHOISY LE ROI (1863 - 1938): "Hercule et Omphale" (1898) Presented at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1898, under number 4060, with three other vases including 'Sauve qui peut ! This stoneware vase rests on a base decorated with two putti accompanying Hercules, represented in the round. Hercules supports the entire vase with his legendary strength. He holds the vase with his right arm, his head and his right leg, bent over his other leg. Hercules has the face of an old man with a beard, but he has lost none of his strength: the musculature is highly developed, giving him a monumental appearance. He is lying on the skin of the Nemean lion. The entire base of the vase, with the exception of the two putti, is a brownish color. This is also the color of the lower part of the vase, which fades to a celestial blue in the upper part. Omphale takes her place on the belly of the vase. While her body is depicted in bas-relief, her bust and head stand out from the background to become a sculpture in very high relief. She lies on a drape and, with her right hand, points to the club in her left. This is Hercules' club. Her sly smile, directed at Hercules, suggests that she has slyly stolen it from our hero. On the handles of the vase sit two putti in a complex position. Their right hands seem to be supporting the lip of the vase, on which a lid is placed. The motifs are executed in paste-on-paste. This process, developed at the Manufacture de Sèvres around 1848, was usually used by sculptors, which Louis Carrier-Belleuse was. It consists in applying generally white motifs to a colored background. LOUIS-ROBERT CARRIER-BELLEUSE (1848-1913) At the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1896, Louis Carrier-Belleuse presented two plaster vases entitled Hercule et Omphale and Sauve qui peut! At the 1898 Salon, these two vases reappeared, this time in stoneware, along with two others: Enfants et papillons and Musique. These four vases are presented under the same number (no. 4060) and in the same display case. Three of the four vases were reproduced in 1900 in the magazine La Décoration ancienne et moderne. Enfants et papillons was acquired by the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, in 2003, and is one of the few examples of a vase by this designer to remain in a French public collection. The same year, he presented a fifth vase, number 4059, entitled L'agriculture. Son of sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887), Louis Carrier-Belleuse studied with Gustave Boulanger and Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts. He made his debut as a painter at the Salon of 1870 and began exhibiting sculptures in 1889. He showed an early interest in the industrial arts: for several years, he worked alongside his father at the Manufacture de Sèvres, where he had been artistic director since 1875. In 1877, he gained his first experience of working with ceramics with Théodore Deck, and entered a jardinière project in the 1882 Sèvres competition. He subsequently became director of works of art at the Choisy-le-Roi faience factory, to which he supplied numerous models. In 1896, he won a medal in the applied art section, the year in which he presented the two plaster vases. He exhibited for the last time in 1912. As artistic director of the Choisy-le-Roi earthenware factory, he designed numerous models, including this vase. Founded in 1805 by Messrs Valentin, Melchior and Nicolas Paillart in the former Petit Château de Choisy-le-Roi, the factory became the property of Valentin Paillart and Hippolyte Hautin in 1824. In 1836, with the departure of Valentin Paillart, the factory became the property of Hippolyte Hautin and Louis Boulenger. From then on, Choisy-le-Roi earthenware was a family affair. In 1863, Hippolyte Boulenger succeeded his uncle Louis at the head of the company. He remained the sole owner until 1878. Under his management, the factory underwent considerable expansion. That same year, he decided to transform the factory into a partnership limited by shares: the "Société Hte Boulenger et Cie" was born. Hippolyte Boulenger was the sole managing director until his death in 1892. At that time, his son Paul took over the business. Louis Carrier-Belleuse worked with him. Hercules is undoubtedly the most popular hero of Greco-Latin mythology. The vase features two of his attributes: the club and the skin of the Nemean lion. This lion was a fearsome beast that terrorized the