Jean de Lespinasse, baluster jug

Jean de LESPINASSE (1896-1979) Baluster jug, model no. 45, circa 1960. Polychrome glazed earthenware with incised decoration, turquoise blue, black, brown, yellow, and pale green glazes. Signed and numbered under the base "JdL 45". The jug is made of earthenware in a baluster shape resting on a flared circular foot. The bulging body extends into a narrow neck finished with a wide lip forming a pouring spout. A long arched handle connects the shoulder to the upper part of the neck. The piece is covered with a wiped turquoise blue glaze, revealing the horizontal striations of the turning. The main face is adorned with a significant polychrome incised decoration, organised in a vertical cartouche: a symmetrical geometric composition combining lanceolate shapes, scrolls, and linear motifs in shades of yellow, pale green, brown, and black. The cartouche is underscored by horizontal bands and friezes of scrolls that also punctuate the neck and the lower part of the body. The reverse, left almost entirely blue, is only rhythmically marked by the peripheral friezes. The interior is finished with a glossy black glaze. Founded in Nice in the 1950s and 1960s by Jean and Simone de Lespinasse, the workshop is part of the revival of post-war ceramics on the Côte d'Azur. Its creations are characterised by robust and architectural forms as well as a unique ornamental style, blending incised decorations, wiped grounds, and contrasts of textures between matte and glossy glazes. This jug (model no. 45), with its tall baluster silhouette and structured decoration in a large cartouche, perfectly illustrates this workshop production, to which the decorator Sylvie Fournier also contributed. Bibliography: Jean-Claude MARTIN, Marks and signatures of art ceramics from the Côte d'Azur, Sudarènes Éditions.