Glazed Ceramic Vase Signed "montieres"

Ovoid vase with a narrow collar in gray enamelled ceramic, black and gold decorated with a trendy raven. Signed "Montières" in the decor. Depressed mark under the base X and R? Circa 1930. Montières is a district of the Picardy capital Amiens. In 1915, two partners created a small earthenware in Montières, a district of Amiens. But once mobilized on the front, they sell their business to the industrialist Désiré Borck in 1917. The latter entrusts the artistic direction of the ceramic workshop to Jean Barol, a confirmed potter from Cannes and former student of Clément Massier , one of the most famous ceramists of the late nineteenth century. To make the pieces, he hired artists, some of whom were already present in the region: they had been recruited to exert their talent in the first French camouflage workshop where more than 200 artists made false trees, false cows to deceive l 'enemy. In the early days, the earth used for ceramics comes from Vallauris, it is red and the decorations are of Napoleon III style. On each piece, a signature, that of the Picardy pottery. From 1920, the direction changes and the manufacture knows a very important rise. In 1927, the SARL of Ceramic art of Montières is created. Art Nouveau becomes the predominant style. The crisis of 1929 weakens the site which only keeps 3 collaborators before disappearing in 1936, undermined by the foreign competition.