Style Napoleon III / Ref.15011

Théodore DECK, dish with female bust, second half of the 19th century

This ornamental dish was made by Théodore Deck in the second half of the 19^th century.

Théodore Deck initially trained as a stove maker. When he set up on his own in Paris in 1858, he made stove linings and, building on his success, moved into ceramics. The studio produced a large number of dishes, sometimes in collaboration with well-known painters. He gradually perfected his technique and enjoyed great success at the many World’s Fairs he took part in. In 1878, he was made an Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. He ran the Sèvres factory between 1887 and his death in 1891.

The ceramist worked in a wide variety of styles: influenced by Japonism, he was also a lover of history and did not hesitate to draw inspiration from the Middle Ages or the Renaissance in his work. He produced a whole series of dishes decorated with portraits of famous or anonymous people: Sarah Bernhardt as Doña Sol as well as a young woman on a gold background (c. 1878-1885, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). The beautiful unknown woman on this dish seems to belong to the latter category.

This dish has a bright yellow background, which Deck was particularly fond of to highlight his busts.

The Unterlinden Museum has a very similar dish by Théodore Deck, with painted decoration by Paul-César Helleu: a female bust stands out against a yellow background over which palmettes are superimposed. Although the woman depicted on the Colmar dish is wearing a Renaissance-style hat, a two-row necklace and a dress, her face is turned in profile and her bust is three-quarter length, as is the case for most dishes with similar iconography, whereas ours is turned to face the viewer and looks on with melancholy.