MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-0

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-1

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-2

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-3

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-4

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-5

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-6

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-7

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-8

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-9

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks-10

Style Art Nouveau / Ref.16121

MILET & DIFFLOTH – Ornamental Glazed Ceramic Charger with Hollyhocks

Dimensions
Width 29'' ½  75cm
Height 29'' ⅞  76cm
Depth: 4''   10cm
diameter: 22'' ⅞  58cm

Origin:
late 19th Century

This decorative dish featuring hollyhocks results from the collaboration between ceramist Félix Optat Milet (1838-1911) and Emile Diffloth (1856-1933). Born into a family of potters, Milet joined the Manufacture de Sèvres in 1862 as a modeler before becoming a decorator. In 1866, he founded his own factory, which would become the largest private ceramics manufacturer in Sèvres. In 1876, Optat Milet participated privately in the Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition of the Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts, where his brightly colored creations were a great success, as evidenced by the lines dedicated to him by Adrien Dubouché in 1876 in his article “Contemporary Ceramics at the Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts Exhibition” in the second issue of L'Art: la revue hebdomadaire illustrée. At the 1889 World's Fair, Milet won the gold medal and Loebnitz highlighted the wonderful effects made possible thanks to the new technique used by Optat. It was also in the 1880s that Optat Milet and Clément Massier opened the Delvaux boutique (18, rue royale in Paris), which remained in business until the 1970s.

Our dish bears Emile Diffloth's signature on the front and the Milet factory mark on the back. Based in Sèvres, Milet is renowned for his technical expertise and close ties with the Manufacture Nationale. The central decoration created by Diffloth features white and purple hollyhocks in a fluid, asymmetrical composition inspired by Japanese art which was in vogue at the time. The delicately veined flowers and leaves stand out elegantly against a gold background thanks to a textured relief surface. The gold background creates a luminous vibration under the glaze. The overall effect is of great refinement.