Circular Wrought Iron & Enamelled Ceramic Coffee Table - Jacques Blin - Period: 20th Century

Rare coffee table with a circular wrought iron body with four square legs and a top decorated with 25 chiseled glazed ceramic tiles, 12 of which are illustrated with human and animal figures. 
The illustrations were engraved in a rather dry material and then received a strong layer of glaze or enamel.

This sublime achievement is the work of the French ceramist Jacques BLIN (1920-1995).

Period : XXth century
Circa : 1960-1965
Dimensions : Height : 36,5cm - Diameter : 71cm
Signed : Jacques Blin on a tile

Jacques Blin was a French ceramist, mainly active in the peak period of mid-century modernism. 

With Georges Jouve and Pol Chambost, he was one of the most famous ceramists in France in the 1950s and 1960s. An aeronautical engineer, he first worked in this field, but quickly chose to make his passion for ceramics his profession.

In 1953, he opened his own workshop in Paris. 
Jacques Blin's workshop was composed of Jacques Blin himself, the turner François Cuevas, the designer/engraver Jean Rustin and his wife Catherine. 
This small team of four people managed to produce a fairly substantial output of all types of ceramics, but especially vases.

The style of the Jacques Blin workshop is characterized by the presence of illustrations of birds, animals and scenes of daily life and was quite typical of the aesthetic of its time. It was primitive, but artistic and imaginative.

Jacques Blin was also very committed to his art and his passion.
He became vice-president of the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva and was president of the Chambre syndicale des céramistes et ateliers d'art de France for twenty years.