c. 1885

Vase in the Form of a Lantern

Edmond Lachenal

French, 1855 - 1930

In 1870, at age 15, Edmond Lachenal apprenticed himself to the renowned ceramist Théodore Deck. At the Deck studio in Paris, Lachenal learned both production techniques and the non-Western styles and ornamental traditions which Deck was beginning to incorporate in his work. Lachenal brought these approaches with him when he established his own workshop in 1883. There he produced small and large Japanese-inspired plaques, vases, and sculptural objects.

Shaped like a Japanese paper lantern, this vase is decorated with two sculptural brown bats. Lachenal may have been influenced by the work of the Japanese potter Miyagawa Kōzan (1842–1916), whose prize-winning ceramics were displayed at the Paris Universal Expositions of 1878 and 1889. Kōzan was celebrated for his decorative technique taka-ukibori (sculptural relief), in which he decorated the surfaces of his wares with realistic three-dimensional high reliefs and sculptures, such as a crab climbing on the edge of a bowl.