Vase des binelles

Hector Guimard (1867-1942)

Sevres Manufactory

1903

Stoneware

One of five produced

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection. Purchase 2011 Benefit Fund (2013.502)

Note: The museum’s own photograph (image) in Recent Acquisitions 2012-2014 makes the vase look primarily green rather than light brown.

The exhibition label points out that “this vase is an extraordinary feat of Art Nouveau ceramics by Hector Guimard, who designed the iconic Paris Metro entrances. Monumental in scale, the Vase des binelles has an architectural presence and a strong organic form. . . The crystalline glaze, developed at the end of the nineteenth century, features iridescent crystal particles that create a sparkling effect.”

Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York