Lot n° 359
Estimation :
12000 - 15000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 32 000EUR
Fernand THESMAR (1843-1912)
Cup in plique-à-jour enamels and gold cloisonné, heel and lip in gold 1892.
H.: 5 cm. Diam: 9 cm.
(usual hair, two small lacks)
Note:
Draughtsman, he has the precision without dryness; colorist, he knows all the harmonies. He has the imagination which creates and the taste which regulates it. Enameller he invented a new technique, a miracle of science, skill and ingenuity. He is not only in the first rank of enamellers: he is the first.
These words of Armand Caillat to qualify Thesmar's talent are verified once again in our masterpiece of plique-à-jour enamel. An early creation in the artist's career, this bowl is dated 1892. It is most likely the one that was exhibited at the Salon National des Beaux-Arts held on the Champ-de-Mars the same year. Our cup is indeed described and illustrated in the Revue des Arts Décoratifs of the same year (fig.1)
Its composition and dimensions are the same as another cup exhibited at the Salon the year before but with yellow reserves on a black background. The latter was purchased for the Musée du Luxembourg and is now in the Musée d'Orsay (OA3288). This composition is found on a third work, exhibited at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (Inv.6269), and formerly displayed at the UCAD pavilion in 1900. (fig. 2 and 3)
This technique of translucent and backgroundless enamels inspired by stained glass was resurrected by Thesmar in the late 1880s. The size of his works is a wonder. In fact, Thesmar was the only one who knew how to make these cups and was never imitated, let alone equaled.
Only a dozen of these goblets are known to exist today, all but one of which are kept in museums around the world (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, Inv. 44572 and 44573 - Toledo Museum of Art, Inv. 2005-43 - Metropolitan Museum of New York, Inv. 05.10.2 - Victoria & Albert Museum of London, Inv. 357-1894)
The last Thesmar bowl of the same diameter as ours to have been presented at auction to our knowledge also dates from 1892 (Beaussant-Lefèvre sale, December 17, 2010, lot 271 (106,000).
These spectacular pieces seduced Thesmar's contemporaries and earned him unanimous critical acclaim, beginning with Vogt, the director of the Manufacture de Sèvres for whom Thesmar worked. After ten years of research punctuated by some masterpieces, Thesmar was a triumph at the 1900 World's Fair where he was ranked out of competition. Louis de Foucaud spoke of a "challenge to human possibilities", Mourey of "spider-like partitions". Armand Caillat of a "complete artist.
Reclaimed in the United States to teach his art, Thesmar remained in France and died before the war, leaving to posterity a work which has not ceased to fascinate the amateurs.
Bibliography:
L. de Fourcaud, Les Arts décoratifs au Salon de 1892 in Revue des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1892, p.12 et s.
G. Vogt, Rapports du jury international (...), Paris, 1901, p.36
A. Calliat and H. Bouillet, Rapports du Jury International. Classe 94, Paris, 1902, p.230-231.
G. Mouray, "Fernand Thesmar, 1843-1912," in Les Arts, 1912, pp. 19-22.
R. de Plinval de Guillebon, Fernand Thesmar, émailleur sur cuivre, or et porcelaine, in Estampille, l'Objet d'art. January 1994, n°276.
A. Duncan, The Paris Salons, 1895 - 1914, - Volume V : Objets d'art and Metalwear, London, 1999. p. 510
Provenance:
Baronne V in 1892, Private collection of the South of France in the early 50's, Private collection, Paris.
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