'marsh' Planter By Théodore Deck

'Marsh' Planter by Théodore Deck.
Enameled ceramic.
France.
Late 19th century.
h. 10.43 ; d. 12.99 in.

This significant polychrome ceramic planter, decorated with wading and crested birds surrounded by flowers and plants of the marsh, bears the mark of the famed French Art Nouveau ceramist Théodore Deck. Deck was deeply inspired by Oriental ceramics, particularly the Iznik pottery, a kind of pottery produced in the 15th and 16th centuries in the Ottoman Empire renowned for its vibrant floral motifs, often in blue and red on a white background. For this planter, Théodore Deck subtly chose to enamel the marsh water using his famous invented blue, also inspired by the "turquoise" blue of Chinese ceramics, which he emphasizes by using it for the corolla of some flowers and to highlight the lobed edge decorating the lip of the planter.