A French faience jardiniere-on-stand, entitled 'Vasque des Titans'

AFTER A MODEL BY AUGUSTE RODIN AND ALBERT-ERNEST CARRIER-BELLEUSE, MANUFACTURED BY CHOISY-LE-ROI, DATED 1902

Details
A French faience jardiniere-on-stand, entitled 'Vasque des Titans'
After a model by Auguste Rodin and Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, Manufactured by Choisy-le-Roi, Dated 1902
The bulbous vase cast with oak leaves, above a stand with circular concave top supported by four nude 'Titan' figures, against a drapery-clad shaft, on a spreading bell-shaped foot inscribed A Carrier Belleuse, dated and numbered GO.12/G/3017.2.M.1902, numbered again 3382 and marked MB & Cie/Choisy/France to the inner side (the vase numbered A/1523//pgo.12 and 3382)
41 7/8 in. (105.3 cm.) high, overall

Lot Essay

The quixotic relationship between Rodin and Carrier-Belleuse began in 1864, when, encouraged by his former comrades from the Petite Ecole, Rodin decided to join Carrier-Belleuse's rapidly expanding studio. If, initially, Rodin's task was to complete the compositions of the other modellers, it appears that he was quite rapidly entrusted with increasing compositional freedom. The present lot is maybe the one certain instance where Rodin was entirely relied upon to achieve his master's idea (see H. W. Janson, Rodin and Carrier-Belleuse: the Vase des Titans in: The Art Bulletin, vol. L, 1968, pp.278-80).
It is still subject to doubt whether the Vase des Titans was conceived during Rodin's first collaboration with Carrier-Belleuse, or if it was, instead, more likely to have been created in 1879-1882, when Rodin served as assistant to a newly-appointed Carrier-Belleuse as head of the Manufacture de Sèvres.
However, it is generally recognised, on mere stylistical grounds, that the figures are the work of Rodin and not that of his master whose 'propensity [...] towards the refined, feminine style of the eighteenth century could not have encompassed the Michelangelesque asperities of these figures' (Tancock, 1976, p.238)
La Manufacture de Choisy-le-Roi was founded in 1894 by the brothers Paillard who took over the business of the English Potter in Chantilly in 1802. From 1863, it belonged to Hippolyte Boulenger and his descendants (hence the HB mark), until its close in 1939. Throughout the 19th Century, Choisy succeeded in developping advanced techniques for the creation of faïence of large dimensions. Carrier-Belleuse's son was appointed Director at the H.B. & Cie, leaving it the obvious choice when it was decided, in 1902, to have a majolica version of the group executed.

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