Theodore Deck & Eugène Gluck - Circular Glazed Earthenware Dish

Circular dish in polychrome glazed earthenware, made in 1869 by Théodore Deck (1823–1891), in collaboration with the painter Eugène Gluck (1820–1898).

With a diameter of 33 cm, this piece combines Deck's technical expertise in the field of glazed ceramics and Gluck's pictorial work, specialized in figurative scenes.

The central decoration represents the left profile of a helmeted soldier, identifiable by an antique-style headdress decorated with a red plume and a golden zoomorphic motif. The face, carefully treated in its contours and shading, is inscribed in a circular medallion framed by a geometric frieze alternating interlaced diamonds and circles, on a turquoise background.

The whole presents great precision in the drawing and a masterful use of color. The rim is decorated with a stylized repeating pattern in yellow on a green background, evoking a neo-Renaissance decorative vocabulary, common in Deck's production at this time.

The base of the dish adopts a decoration of brown and green leafy motifs, applied with a sponge or stamp, providing a visual structure to the whole. The signature "E. Gluck" appears in the painted decoration, while the inscription "Th. Deck 1869" is affixed to the reverse, attesting to the collaboration between the two artists.

The glaze has in places a slight metallic luster effect, characteristic of some of Deck's productions. This piece is part of the tradition of artistic earthenware of the second half of the 19th century, at the crossroads of research on colored glazes and the historicist interest in the figures and motifs of Antiquity.