Exceptional Stoppered Bottle on Stand -Taxile Doat, Sèvres, 1900

This extraordinary piece is high on my “top ten all time favorites” list - created by one of France's finest studio ceramists, asian influenced form, crystalline, drip glaze.

Taxile Doat began working at the Sèvres National Manufactory in 1877. Throughout his tenure there, he maintained a private studio, at first in Paris and later both in Paris and in the city of Sèvres. I believe this example was made at his atelier in the Sèvres “factory” and not in his private studio in Sèvres. It is 8 inches tall, signed twice and dated 1900. It consists of the "bottle", a stopper and a stand.

Much of the following comes from Jason Jacques, Inc:

Taxile Doat (1851-1939) is best known today as the international master of grand feu (high-fired) porcelain and stoneware and one of the first successful studio potters. In an era when artists and craftsmen closely guarded their secret methods and materials, he is also recognized as a generous teacher of kiln technology, clay and glaze formulas.

Doat began working at the Sèvres National Manufactory in 1877 and throughout his tenure there he maintained a private atelier, at first in Paris and later both in Paris and in the city of Sèvres. Like other accomplished artisans, Doat was granted a personal atelier within the Sèvres factory where he experimented with forms and decorations within the firm's parameters.

Although Doat's production at Sèvres was prodigious, his relationship with his employer was uneasy. His audacity in creating a full-blown private atelier virtually under the nose of Sèvres caused administrator Émile Baumgart to forbid Sèvres employees to work independently, as of 1897. Doat was unrepentant and carried on as before. Doat's continued refusal to comply with Baumgart's order led to his dismissal in 1905. By then he was known internationally as one of France's finest studio ceramists.

In the United States in spring 1909, Edward Lewis developed plans for an art school and pottery in University City, Missouri. He corresponded with Adelaide Alsop Robineau, of Syracuse, New York, asking for her assistance. Robineau was well known as a ceramist and as the publisher of the monthly pottery journal Keramic Studio. Robineau suggested that Lewis invite Doat to Univerity City to consult on the new school.

In June 1909 Doat arrived in University City. He was hired on as the director of the ceramics school. Doat there created marvelous crystalline glazes on simple vase and bottle forms and on shapes derived from fruits and gourds, as well as forms inspired by sake bottles and other vessels found in Asian ceramics. Doat developed a palette of colorful crystalline glazes, both glossy and matte in texture. The inherently unique and unpredictable nature of crystalline glazes yielded a wide range of colors, surface patterns, and textures that enabled him to produce a diverse body of ceramics from a limited number of shapes. During his final years at University City, he led his students in the production of hundreds of novel pieces for the Panama Pacific International Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915.

In 1915, Doat returned to his atelier in France and resumed his studio work. He again exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Doat continued to work at a masterly level until shortly before his death at the age of 87, in 1939.