Jean Langlade French Art Nouveau Vegetal Form Stoneware Vase

Beautiful tones of green, brown, blue, purple and ochre combine spontaneously on this charming late 1890s double gourd vase by French Art Nouveau ceramist, Jean Langlade (1879-1928). The sculptural vine that wraps around the piece forms both a subtle whiplash line and a small handle, suggesting that this was meant to serve as a pitcher. Marked "Langlade" in script on the base, partially obscured by glaze.

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French ceramist Jean Langlade was likely raised in Limoges, France, but first surfaced in historical documents as a student of Bernard Palissy in Paris. Armed with a solid technical training, he settled into work at 107 rue de Charenton (Paris) with the name of “Manufacture de gres, de Charenton - Specialty sandstone bonfire, articles for moulders, earthenware and porcelain, articles of all kinds.” Langlade also appears on the 1914 tax rolls as “moulder and dealer of ceramic busts and figurines.” His oeuvre included glazed earthenware vessels, figures, and porcelain ware.

In 1920 he joined the ceramists of Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye (in central France) and hired by Arnaud in his workshop of Faubourg from about 1920 to 1922, which was highly esteemed for their high fire stoneware. He then worked with the Société des Grès Flammés in the small hamlet of La Tuilerie before establishing his own workshop in Dampierre-sous-Bouhy around 1923. Langlade had contracted tuberculosis by this time and wanted to retire to a peaceful area to recuperate and work until his untimely death in 1928. Langlade’s second wife, Angela Blanquet, took over the pottery after her husband’s death. Jean Langlade is considered the father of French flambe glazed earthenware.