Autumn in New York - Part Eight

We've always loved ceramics at LEO Design—in every form: vessels, plaques, sculpture or architectural elements.  Today we'll share a handful of interesting ceramics pieces from around the world—all in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Shown above, an Eighteenth Century porcelain lion.  He was made around the year 1732 by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner in Meissen, Germany (about 15 miles from Dresden and 60 miles from the Czech border).  This lion was part of a series of large porcelain beasts created for the Japanisches Palais in Dresden. The palace was built in 1715 and expanded shortly thereafter to house the Japanese porcelain collection of King Augustus the Strong.  (Collecting Asian ceramics was the rage amongst European aristocrats in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.) However, King Augustus died in 1733, after which the building was repurposed as a library.  The royal collection never made it into the palace (nor did these animals)—which might be just as well.  In 1945, during World War II, the building was bombed which would have destroyed part of the collection.

This stoneware "lizard" began its life as a carved stone sculpture for the medieval chateau in Pierrefonds, France.  In 1870, sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet was commissioned by Napoleon III to sculpt four fantastical beasts—in stone—to decorate the castle under renovation.  After they were installed, the sculptor commissioned ceramicist Emile Muller to create stoneware (ceramic) copies from the sculptor's original plaster models.  The other three mythical creatures seem to be lost to time.

If the name Pierrefonds sounds familiar, it is because the village later became home to the ceramics studio of that name.  Many Pierrefonds pieces are available on the LEO Design website.

The glazed ceramic fireplace surround, shown above, screams French Art Nouveau.  The sinuous, twisting side-forms culminate in a goddess with flaming hair.  It was made circa 1900 of sculpted stoneware (which is heavy, durable and heat resistant).  The piece is marked "Muller/Lunéville" which indicates it was made by Muller Frères—and attributed, most likely, to brother Jean-Désiré Muller (1877-1952).  The Muller brothers principally were glassmakers during the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods.  The village of Lunéville, however, was better known for its ceramics works.

The two ceramic chargers, hanging above the fireplace, were made by Joseph-Theodore Deck in the last third of the Nineteenth Century.  The charger on the left was decorated by Ernest Carrière; the charger on the right was decorated by Edmund Lachenal.

The monumental French Art Nouveau vase, shown above, was made in the last years of the Nineteenth Century.  It is inspired by aquatic sea life—fish, crustaceans, shells, seaweed—and has been sculpted in a manner bordering on the grotesque.  Its green glazes add to its aquatic (and mysterious) sensibility.   It is a tour-de-force of ceramics making and it (along with its mate) was prominently featured at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900.  It was designed by Georges Hoentschel (1855-1915), an internationally-acclaimed Parisian architect, interior designer, art dealer and tastemaker.  His client list included the Rothschilds and the British Royal Family.  This pair of vases was inspired by the Art Nouveau craze for all things bizarre and creepy-crawly—heightened by the influence of Charles Darwin's (fairly recent) writings on evolution.

The Hungarian Art Nouveau ceramic dish, shown above, was made and decorated by Zsolnay (Pécs, Austro-Hungarian Empire), circa 1900.  It is wonderfully sculpted with movement and energy—as twisting tulips emerge from a radiant sun.

The last piece we'd like to share is more modern than the pieces preciously shown.  This double-spouted vase was made (circa 1958) by an American ceramicist, Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011). She was born on the Big Island of Hawaii but made her career on the mainland.  Her enormous contribution to Modernist American Ceramics cannot be overstated—especially her pioneering role in helping to make ceramics a canvas for Modernist artistic expression.  Her role as an educator is as important as her works (principally ceramics but also bronzes, weavings and paintings).

I have an interesting connection to Toshiko Takaezu.  Growing-up, on Kauai, we lived next door to Mike and Sandi Takaezu.  Mike was my fifth grade school teacher—as well as Toshiko's younger brother.  Their house was filled with her pieces.  As a young teenager, I would babysit the two young Takaezu children (her niece and nephew).  I had met Toshiko during her visits to Kauai—and knew that she was an important artist—but it would be several more years before I began to understand just how important she was.  Before each babysitting gig, as I was heading next door, my step mother always would admonish me, "Don't touch any of the ceramics!"