Wolfers Freres - an important Bacchus jug designed by Philip...

Hammer

£750

Wolfers Freres - an important Bacchus jug designed by Philippe Wolfers (1858-1929) and produced in ceramic by Emile Muller circa 1898.  Heavily potted in the form of a pear shaped body on a splayed foot, with bearded mask of Bacchus  under the spout and grapes beneath the handle. Thickly glazed in greys, greens, blues and golden brown. Inscribed Wolfers to the foot and imprinted with marks to the base: Reproduction Interdit and a medallion bearing the name Emile Muller together with a reference 18C. Philippe Wolfers was a Belgian designer specialising in jewellery, silver, bronze and sculpture. Renowned for his Art Nouveau/Jugendstil designs, and later influenced by Art Deco, he was less prolific, and therefore less familiar, than his French peer Rene Lalique.  Wolfers' exemplaire unique series of jewellery is among the finest during the period. This jug is a ceramic production of Wolfer's original bronze, lidded jug Le Vin which was retained in the Philippe Wolfer's private collection for many years. The form and style evoke the late mediaeval Rhennish Bartmann stoneware jugs, and so it is understandable that Wolfers, when seeking to reproduce the piece in ceramic, sought a collaboration with Emile Muller, whose Grande Tuilerie d'Ivry produced the stoneware balustrades for the Eiffel Tower and as well as works for a range of other artists and sculptors such as Grasset, Toulouse-Lautrec, Chalon, Charpentier and Falguière. Height 26cm. Width 22cm. Depth 13cm. (M)