The re-opening of Japanese ports to foreign trade in 1854, after nearly 250 years of embargo, ushered in an era of utter fascination with, and inspiration from, every aspect of the visual culture from that distant, unfamiliar island country. Japanese woodblock prints, ceramics, textiles, screens, and other objets d’art began appearing in European markets in the 1860s, soon drawing much attention in major exhibitions, markets, fairs, and salons. Japanese prints and objects increasingly provided Western artists images of a foreign, exotic land, as well as a new formal vocabulary, sense of spatial relationships, color palette, and appreciation for nature. French art critic Philippe Burty coined a new term for this Japanese-inspired aesthetic: Japonisme.
The earliest efforts in Japonisme consisted of copied motifs from Japanese prints, as can be seen in Félix Bracquemond’s (1833-1914) Service Rousseau tableware. Exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle to critical acclaim, this work is credited with the earliest use of Japanese print images in French decorative arts. His asymmetrical placement of the appropriated images on the plates also exhibits an understanding of the Japanese spatial concepts, and a shift away from practiced French symmetrical arrangements.
Other French decorative artists soon followed in adopting Japanese designs and formal principles, and what began as a superficial borrowing of motifs evolved into a true assimilation and adaptation of Japanese aesthetic concepts. Besides the work of Bracquemond, Japonisme in ceramics was skillfully embraced by Albert Dammouse (1848-1926), Ernest Chaplet (1835-1909), Théodore Deck (1823-1891), Edmond Lachenal (1855-1948), and Émile Decoeur (1876-1953), among many others in the Paris circle and beyond. Each of these ceramicists developed independent, interpretive, japoniste styles, emulating the spirit of their models and in the process, achieving a new, freer conception of painted decoration, vase shapes, stoneware glazes, and other ceramic techniques.
Japonisme’s popularity began to fade at the dawning of the 20th century as it was supplanted by the sinuous lines and whiplash tendrils of Art Nouveau. However, decorative and fine arts are nothing if not a continuum, and Japonisme’s lasting influence was felt in the genesis of concurrent and following art movements including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and beyond.
Ernest Chaplet 1835–1909
Born in Sèvres, Ernest Chaplet apprenticed at the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres beginning in 1848 at the tender age of thirteen before moving on to produce painted earthenware for nearly twenty years at the Laurin factory in Bourg-la-Reine. In 1875 he was hired by an experimental studio at Auteuil owned by Charles Haviland where he advanced and perfected the technique of barbotine. The Auteuil atelier closed in 1881 but, at the behest of Chaplet, Haviland opened a second in Vaugirard in 1882. He spent several years at the Vaugirard atelier, eventually taking full control of it after Haviland withdrew his support. There he produced painted, unglazed stoneware in the peasant pottery style, and frequently collaborated with Albert-Louis and Édouard-Alexandre Dammouse to create elaborate vases with Japonesque and Chinese designs with applied elements.
By 1887, Chaplet had settled in Choisy-le-Roi where he perfected the notoriously difficult oxblood, or sang de boeuf, glaze for which he won a gold medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Chaplet spent the remaining years of his career experimenting with Chinese-inspired glazes and won further acclaim at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. His career came to a tragic end in 1904 after he lost his sight. Unable to continue his life's work, he fell into despair and destroyed his countless unique glaze formulas and notebooks before committing suicide in 1909. Known as one of the most industrious and innovative ceramists of the nineteenth century, his work can be found in permanent collections across the world, among them the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Auction Results Ernest Chaplet
