THEODORE DECK, FRANCE, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Theodore Deck (1823-1891) was director of the Musée de la Céramique, Sèvres, as well as a famous ceramicist. As early as 1856, Deck has in charge the decoration of the Hotel de la Païva in Paris, decorating the walls with tiles in the Islamic style. One of his well-known pieces is a reproduction of the Vase with Gazelles of the Alhambra which he publishes in his work La Faïence in 1887. He presents it at the Great Exhibition in London in 1862; the piece is subsequently bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1865 (then the South Kensington Museum). The museum also acquires a mosque lamp by Deck in 1867. In a report written by the French commissioner to the 1871 London Great Exhibition, it is suggested that Deck’s interest for Iznik ceramics started with an Iznik fragment given to him by Adalbert de Beaumont in 1859. His aim was to discover the technique behind the bright red of Iznik ceramics. A large dish by Deck, copying a piece from the British Museum (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, 1989, London, fig.241, pp.137-138) sold at Christie’s South Kensington, 24 April 2015, lot 435.