A FRENCH STONEWARE DOUBLE-HEADED ELEPHANT VASE BY PIERRE-ADRIEN DALPAYRAT WITH JEAN COULON

This rare vase is thought to be one of two (or possibly three) made by Dalpayrat but this example has the most colourful glaze - illustrated by H. Makus et al., Adrien Dalpayrat, Französische Jugendstil-Keramik/Céramique française de l'Art Nouveau, Stuttgart, 1998, p. 27 and p. 136, no. 73, where it is stated that this piece was a collaboration with the sculptor Jean Coulon (1853-1953); see also pp. 46-47 for further details on Coulon's career. The present example was first exhibited by Galerie Georges Petit, in 1894-5, where Dalpayrat's chose to show his most celebrated sang-de-beouf glazed vases in 1892. An elephant vase was also listed as no. 400 in the first exhibition catalogue at Siegfried Bing's gallery the Salon de l'art nouveau, Paris in December 1895 and is shown in a sepia photograph of the entrance hall to the gallery dated 1895 (L'Origines de Art Nouveau; La Maison Bing, exhib. cat., 2004, fig. 159). A further photograph of an elephant vase is in the Bing archive at the Archives Nationales, Paris. Another example with a brown glaze and dated circa 1897-1898 was sold at Art Curial, 31 May 2021, lot 2 (€40,300 inc. premium).