Circa 1890s Alexandre Bigot Gres Cabinet Vase

Emerald green and oxblood red glazed stoneware by Alexandre Bigot (1862-1927). The form has nice softly indented sides that have allowed the glaze, which was applied thickly, to pool and drip down the side. Surface texturing between gloss and matte areas and glaze crystallization effects set this cabinet vase above the norm for Bigot's studio pottery production. The underside has one of the earlier Bigot signature stamps, as well as form and glaze production numbers. Dimensions: 5" (height) x 3" (width).
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Alexandre Bigot, born November 5, 1862 and died April 27, 1927 in Paris. A science teacher working in Alsace, Bigot resolved to experiment with pottery after seeing Asian ceramics displayed in Paris in the late 1880s. After a brief stint in the studio of Paul Beyer (1873-1945) in Switzerland, he set up his first kiln in 1889. Bigot exhibited his early work, small simple vases and plates with applied newts, frogs, and snakes in 1894. Soon after Alexandre Bigot resolved to become a potter, he established his own workshop in Mer (Loir et Cher). There he began to teach himself all aspects of ceramic production and before long abandoned teaching to pursue a full-time career in ceramics. When architectural ceramics were introduced at the Universal Exhibition of 1889, the call for such work quickly expanded. In 1897 Bigot turned his firm into a joint-stock company. He moved his Parisian shop from Rue d'Assas to Rue des Petites Ecuries and built a factory at Aulnay (near Mer), where where he eventually employed more than 100 people and operated 10 industrial kilns. As the leading player in the field of architectural ceramics, he was commissioned to work with the greatest sculptors and architects of the time. Meanwhile, he continued making individual figures, vases, tiles and other decorative ceramics in his Paris studio. His work was sold through Siegfried Bing's emporium, Maison L'Art Nouveau. Bigot produced architectural ceramics and art pottery until 1914, when he became a technical consultant in ceramics industry.