Alexis Boissonnet After Jean-joseph Carriès – The Baby With The Collar – Stoneware With Celadon Glazes

Alexis Boissonnet (1879-1956) after Jean-Joseph Carriès (1855-1894)
"The Baby with the Collar"
Beautiful celadon-glazed stoneware example.
Dimensions: height 15cm, depth 16cm, width 12.5cm.
Signed A. Boissonnet, circa 1900.
Good overall condition. An old chip on the edge of the collar (see photo).

Often called "the baby with the collar," this subject is certainly the best known and most reproduced of the series of babies that Jean-Joseph Carriès sculpted between 1875 and 1888. Rarely signed and of varying quality in terms of execution and patinas, this subject is nonetheless one of the most emblematic of his work.
The stoneware piece we are offering is of exceptional quality, with exquisitely delicate modeling and a beautiful pale celadon glaze, subtly nuanced with pinkish clouds and rare touches of blue. This glaze is the work of Alexis Boissonnet, who signed this piece, undoubtedly in homage to his illustrious predecessor. The connection between these two artists is undeniable, as some of his works could legitimately place him within the "Carriès school."

Alexis Boissonnet was the second in a dynasty of ceramists established in Saint-Vallier in the Drôme region.
His father, Louis Boissonnet, a potter, founded the "Etablissements Boissonnet" there in 1865, specializing in the production of tableware and art objects in glazed stoneware.
Alexis honed his skills there and specialized in the art of glazing. His mastery was recognized with a silver medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition, awarded for the creation, in collaboration with the Lyon sculptor Pierre Devaux, of the vase "The Rhône and the Saône," a piece that was later acquired by a Moscow museum.
Following this success, a piece was purchased from the Parisian gallery "L'Art Nouveau" to enrich the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Alexis Boissonnet participated in the 1902 Turin Universal Exhibition as a member of the independent group representing the École de Nancy. He subsequently exhibited in Lille, Limoges, Saint Petersburg, and elsewhere.
From 1918 to 1933, he succeeded his father as head of the family business in Saint-Vallier, a company that remained in the family until 2000 (under the name Novaceram since 1958).
Alexis Boissonnet died in 1956.

References:
collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O159694/vase-boissonnet-alexis/

Pierre Devaux, sculptor.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Devaux_(sculptor)

Saint-Vallier
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Vallier_(Dr%C3%B4me)