JULES-AUGUSTE HABERT-DYS, 1906

An exceptional draftsman, ceramicist, and art glass designer, Habert-Dys first exhibited his painted earthenware works at the Paris Salon des Artistes Français in 1876. The following year he assumed a position at the Haviland ceramics workshop and by 1881 joined L'Art magazine which over the course of six years published no less than five-hundred of his drawings. His work was influenced by nature and Japanese motifs, and by the turn of the century he began devoting more of his energy toward realizing his designs on paper in the form of actual objects. He created a variety of exquisitely detailed boxes in silver and bronze and often times enhanced the works with semi-precious stones, ivory, gold, horn or ebony accents. He exhibited regularly at the annual Salons of the Société des Artistes Français and at the Salons d'Automne, and today his work is in major museums and private collections including the Musée de Luxembourg, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Pierpont-Morgan Collection and the Rothschild Collection.