Small Vase and Jug, Gilbert Méténier (France), ca. 1920

A small one-flower vase ('vase soliflore') and a pitcher by Gilbert Méténier, both with drip glaze in typical blue and tan colours.

Gilbert Méténier was born in 1876 and took over his father Loius Méténier’s (1844-1922) pottery in Gannat in central France around 1920. In the 1930's, the pottery employed 10-15 people and it is well-known for this kind of very drip-glaze pottery, typically in blue nuances (hence the moniker ‘bleus de Gannat’ sometimes used to describe it). When the Germans arrived in France in 1940, he closed the pottery, destroyed all his moulds and allegedly moved to Saint Raphaël in the south of France - as he didn't want his work to fall into the hands of the enemy - never to be heard of again! He was in his seventies at the time, I guess it's possible that he just wished to retire...

I particularly like the vase with its elegant shape and indentations on the body. Some time ago one was sold at an auction in the US - same shape, but a different glaze.

Height of the vase 11 cm / 4.3 and of the jug 10 cm / 3.9 in. Mark: ‘Méténier’. Some Méténier pottery has an incised signature (like the admittedly almost illegible one on the vase), but you can also see a stamped one (like the one on the jug).