1898 Émile Muller et Cie & Alexandre Vibert Large Ceramic Vase

Entitled "Lys et Lizard," this rare and large French Art Nouveau ceramic vase was sculpted by Alexandre Vibert with running multi-color gres glaze, decorated with rising flowers and a lizard stalking a beetle. Executed by Émile Muller & Cie Ivry / Paris. Signed on the base rim with "E. Muller," and on the side, "A. Vibert." The bottom carries the prototypical cryptic Muller "B.E.N.X." mark with a "No. 6." Dimensions: 14.6" (37 cm) tall by 6.7" (17 cm) at the widest.

This vase form was exhibited at the La Societe' des Artistes Francais in 1898 and is illustrated in Alastair Duncan's 1998 "The Paris Salons: Volume IV - Ceramics & Glass" (pg. 356).

----------

Émile Muller (?-1889) founded the "Great Tilery of Ivry" at Ivry Port (Seine) in 1854. His first contribution was the making of ceramic matters for building and industry, then in 1884, he perfected an enameled clay meant for architectural decoration and reproduction of artistic works. Artists such as Eugène Grasset, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Louis Chalon, Isidore de Rudder, and Alexandre Vibert, found Emile Müller ceramics perfectly-adapted and of high-quality, which allowed them to achieve decorative works that widely contributed to his fame. After opening a new factory in 1886, his son Louis Muller took over the firm under the name of "Emile Muller et Cie" in 1889. The firm regularly participated in the Universal Exhibitions and in 1897 was awarded a Grand Prix and three gold medals in Brussels. The firm also supplied glazed roof tiles designed by Hector Guimard in 1893 and executed La Frise du Travail depicting industrial workers and craftsmen in high relief modeled by Antoine Guillot for decoration of the main entrance to the Exposition Universelle 1900.