RENÉ BUTHAUD
A high-fired glazed ceramic piece, with alternating motifs between each fin, executed in shades of blue on an ivory ground.
The decoration includes two female faces—one in three-quarter view, the other in profile—set within oval medallions, along with stylised floral sheaves.
H 13 1/4 in.
Further images
Transcription:
Le Prieuré – Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Sunday, November 8, 1925
Sir,
I am writing rather late to tell you of the interest I take in your works, and I must appear like the gentleman who takes advantage of the end of an exhibition to obtain a reduction in price…
It was only yesterday that I saw, at the Rouart stand, among several very beautiful faience pieces, a vase that I would very much like to acquire. It is therefore not merely because the exhibition has ended, but also because, as a fellow artist who myself once experimented with decorated faience, I am writing to ask you for your final price for vase no. 125, of which this is approximately the form, if I remember correctly.
Please be so kind as to reply, and believe in my sincere admiration for your material and your decoration.
Maurice Denis
Provenance
Work exhibited at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Paris, 1925, and subsequently acquired by the Nabi painter Maurice Denis.
Provenance:
– Collection of Maurice Denis (1870–1943), Nabi painter.
– France Cruège de Forceville; a close friend of the artist and one of the witnesses at his wedding; daughter of Pierre Cruège, designer, close friend, and biographer of René Buthaud. France Cruège de Forceville is the author of numerous publications and the curator of several exhibitions devoted to the Bordeaux ceramist, a recognised specialist, CNE expert, and collector of his work.
Exhibitions
Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris, 1925 – Our work was exhibited at this event, for which René Buthaud served as a member of the Admissions Committee and as a Jury member for the Ceramics Section.Literature
Collective volume edited by Emmanuel Bréon and France Cruège de Forceville – René Buthaud, 1886–1986 – Art Deco Ceramist, catalogue of the exhibition held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts Antoine Lécuyer, Saint-Quentin (May 14 – September 17, 2023), Éditions Norma, Paris, 2023. Our vase reproduced on page 48.
L’Amour de l’Art, no. 10, 1921. A slight variant reproduced on page 308.
Pierre Cruège – René Buthaud (1886–1986), Les Éditions de l’Amateur, Paris, 1996. A slight variant reproduced on pages 80 and 82.