Joseph Talbot (1888-1959) in La Borne - Important stoneware vase

Joseph Talbot (1888-1959) in La Borne. Important stoneware vase of high-fired brown, neck with a frieze of stamped flowers. Signed beneath the stamp. Circa 1930. Diameter: 22cm (14cm at the neck) Height: 28cm. Perfect condition. *He belongs to one of the most illustrious dynasties of Berry potters who have perpetuated and reinvented the art of high-fired stoneware. The Talbot family has been established in Upper Berry for generations. Joseph is notably a descendant of the famous 19th-century ceramist Marie Talbot (1814-1874), known for her anthropomorphic stoneware with relief decorations. Joseph grew up and worked in the heart of the village, in La Borne-d'en-Bas. His historic workshop, equipped with a large traditional kiln known as "couché" (or whistle-type wood kiln), is so important to French pottery heritage that it has been protected as a Historic Monument. He is heavily influenced by the School of Carriès (the movement of Jean-Joseph Carriès, who revolutionised stoneware at the end of the 19th century). Joseph Talbot perfectly masters the flamed glazes and glazes in shades of brown, deep cobalt blues, and satin greys. After the Second World War, when great modernist artists (such as Jean and Jacqueline Lerat, or Vassil Ivanoff) arrived in La Borne, Joseph Talbot served as a pillar and local mentor. He shared the use of his large wood kilns and passed on his ancestral technical knowledge of high-fired pottery to the newcomers.