Louis Chalon "Libellule" Enamel, Gilt Bronze, and Ceramic Vase
This monumental “Libellules” vase—crafted in gilt bronze, ceramic, and plique-à-jour enamel—is a remarkable collaborative work attributed to Louis Chalon, Alphonse Adolphe Lamarre, Eugène Feuillâtre, and Paul Louchet. Each artist contributed a distinct element: Chalon modeled the gilt-bronze figure and sculptural base; Feuillâtre likely created the delicate plique-à-jour enamel of the figure’s wings; Lamarre produced the ceramic body; and Louchet conceived the composition as a whole, integrating the various parts into a unified design.
The vase glows with a palette of blues and golds, its bronze, ceramic, and translucent enamel harmonized into a true Gesamtkunstwerk. At its center, a nude gilt-bronze figure arches gracefully, dragonfly wings unfurling from her back as her hands clasp the rim of the vase. She stands upon a cluster of stylized lily pads, while a small, upward-gazing frog suggests her diminutive, nymph-like scale. Bronze stems coil around the blue, turquoise, and white-glazed ceramic body, evoking the shimmering surface of a water garden.
Item #: YC-22073
Artist: Louis Chalon, Paul Louchet
Country: France
Circa: 1898
Dimensions: 21.5" height, 8" diameter.
Materials: Gilt Bronze, Ceramic, and Plique-à-Jour Enamel
Signed: Louchet" & "G.L
Literature: Pictured in The Paris Salons, 1895-1914, by Alistair Duncan, 1999, volume 5, p. 35; and Cf. Frederick R. Brandt, Late 19th and Early 20th Century Decorative Arts, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, 1985, 59, cat. no. 9; and Laurence Buffet-Challie, The Modern Style, 1982, p.147 fig. no. 5, collection Manoukian.
Item #: YC-22073
Artist: Louis Chalon, Paul Louchet
Country: France
Circa: 1898
Dimensions: 21.5" height, 8" diameter.
Materials: Gilt Bronze, Ceramic, and Plique-à-Jour Enamel
Signed: Louchet" & "G.L
Literature: Pictured in The Paris Salons, 1895-1914, by Alistair Duncan, 1999, volume 5, p. 35; and Cf. Frederick R. Brandt, Late 19th and Early 20th Century Decorative Arts, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, 1985, 59, cat. no. 9; and Laurence Buffet-Challie, The Modern Style, 1982, p.147 fig. no. 5, collection Manoukian.
This vase prominently features a gilt-bronze female nude with narrow, colorful plique-à-jour enamel wings. The figure is a femme libellule (part damselfly, part woman), which was a common motif during the Art Nouveau period. As women’s roles in society changed with the turning of the twentieth century, male artists attempted to understand this novel idea by depicting women as transmogrified beings, or half-animals. In this piece, one can either see the nude figure with bright wings as free in her sexuality and her movement; conversely, she can be seen as a sexual object, and as small and weak as an insect.
Chalon, Lamarre, and Feuillâtre were all, in their own rights, among the best artists of the Art Nouveau movement. Each artist received prizes and accolades at the Paris Expositions Universelles in 1889 and 1900 for works in their respective fields. A similar model is currently a part of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection.
This vase prominently features a gilt-bronze female nude with narrow, colorful plique-à-jour enamel wings. The figure is a femme libellule (part damselfly, part woman), which was a common motif during the Art Nouveau period. As women’s roles in society changed with the turning of the twentieth century, male artists attempted to understand this novel idea by depicting women as transmogrified beings, or half-animals. In this piece, one can either see the nude figure with bright wings as free in her sexuality and her movement; conversely, she can be seen as a sexual object, and as small and weak as an insect.
Chalon, Lamarre, and Feuillâtre were all, in their own rights, among the best artists of the Art Nouveau movement. Each artist received prizes and accolades at the Paris Expositions Universelles in 1889 and 1900 for works in their respective fields. A similar model is currently a part of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection.
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