Camille Fauré Enameled Vase, ca. 1925
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GUEST:
When my husband and I were going through his parents' home, when we were disposing of the contents, my husband said, "Pick the things that you would like to have," and this was one of the items, and I know nothing about it, and I have tried researching and I can't find anything about it.
APPRAISER:
And you just liked it?
GUEST:
Love it, and anyone that sees it wants to know about it.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. It's really a wonderful piece.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
And it's signed very clearly right here at the top, Camille Fauré, and it says, "Limoges."
GUEST:
Correct, that I was able to figure out. I couldn't get the artisan's name, though.
APPRAISER:
Right; he's very well-known as an enamelist. This vase is enamel on copper.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And he worked in the 1920s, and as a matter of fact, he exhibited at the famous International Art Deco Exposition in Paris in 1925, and this is a wonderful example of his work, and it was made in Limoges. And Limoges a lot of people know for porcelain.
GUEST:
Correct.
APPRAISER:
But actually, Limoges started making enamel on copper in the 12th century. And they made it from the 12th century-- there were some disruptions because of wars in the 14th and 15th century, but then in the late 15th and early 16th century, they continued to make enameled on copper works, and they make them to this day. And when you look at the lip here and then the base here, it's pretty scuzzy-looking.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And it doesn't seem to really go with this.
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
And the reason is, this is terribly corroded. This foot and this lip are actually made out of silver.
GUEST:
You're kidding.
APPRAISER:
They made this out of silver to finish it off, and what's happened over the years is, the silver has tarnished and corroded. So this actually can be...
GUEST:
Should it be polished?
APPRAISER:
This can be cleaned off, and I think it would give a very nice look to it, because it would contrast the wonderful surface. What's particularly nice about Fauré is not just that it's enameled, but he's able to build up this texture, and the texture is all around, so what you have are these wonderful wisteria flowers coming down, and they're beautiful, they're colorful, but they're also in this wonderful high relief. His work is very desirable. He did these very naturalistically like this, but he also did very Art Deco-looking ones that have geometric designs. This is a very large size. This technique is very difficult to pull off.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
To fire this enamel, which is like a glass paste, on the copper. If you over-fired it, the whole thing could melt and it would just slip down. A piece like this at auction would bring between $5,000 and $7,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, you're kidding.
APPRAISER:
No.
GUEST:
(laughing): Oh, geez. I wasn't expecting that one. Oh, my goodness.
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