Art Deco Pottery Bison Statuette-France circa 1920's

RARE FIND- ART POTTERY FROM THE HISTORICAL FRENCH ART DECO PERIOD OF THE 1920'S!

Purchased at Curated Objects in Dallas, TX. who provided the identification of the statuette and then MemoryLaneVintiques resumed the research for the "Bio-Listing". Here are the item specifications from our research.
MATERIAL: Earthenware
DESIGN STYLE: Art Deco
NATURE OF DESIGN: Fibonacci
WHEN MADE: 1920's (model 23)
COLOR: Seafoam/Celadon
DESIGNER: Louis Fontinelle of France (1886-1964)
SCULPTOR/POTTER: Louis Dage of France (1885-1961)
STATUETTE FORM/SHAPE: American Bison

This is possibly "one half" of a bookshelf pair when it was made in 1920's France....it is not 100% certain that was the intention but research showed some evidence of that possibility that it was a pair. This solo piece would be considered an Art Object or single bookend.

Louis Dage was a sandstone enthusiast who trained as a potter during his military service time in Belgium . In 1920 he formed a pottery furnace and artisan shop in Paris with animal clay sculptor Louis Fontinelle.
The "Louis Duo" would design and fire bake several pottery forms in the Art Deco movement. The Art Deco movement was invented and exploding in architectural France in the early 20's. The Louis's collaboration would be short lived during the beginning of that time....No one seems to know exactly what led to the two Louis's parting ways but by 1922, Fontinelle went on to set up a workshop in North France. Fontinelle continued firing the potter designs that he created with his time with Dage. By 1927, Fontinelle was still producing this Bison statuette and did so into the 1930's. He purposely added Craquelure ( crazing) to these designs and hand signing them to market the forms as his solo art work. On the other-hand, Louis Dage went on to win the famous Meilleur ouvrier de France Award. Also, in the early 1930's, Dage provided the decoration of the liner Le Normandie.
In 1935, he was appointed the manager of the Saint-Sever (Landes) earthen ware factory.
All of this would solidify Louis Dage's name in Art Deco history but Louis Fontinelle's earthenware visions would not lead to the same success. Both artists collaborated for only a few years and in that time this statuette was made. Rarely the two signed a piece together and the number on the bottom suggests it was made by Dage in 1923 but he was still using the Art Deco bison form that was designed by animal sculptor and former partner, Louis Fontinelle. This one is not signed or have craquelure from Fontinelle which he did as a solo potter post-1922. Also, the bottom cavities of the ceramics done by Fontinelle have a broader space than the ones done by Dage and Fontinelle together.
I am assuming they left base space to provide a mold imprint of their model numbers (#23).
There is a noticeable "production crack" on the base that was glazed and is 100% structural sound, must have been sitting uneven during the drying process which was common back then. All in all a rare historical and decorative pottery piece from the 1920's PARIS ART DECO period.
Great condition-see photos...some small spots and defects from moisture during production.
MemoryLaneVintiques sanitizes all glassware, glazed pottery, jewelry and resin cast items before packing for shipment....100% Guaranteed!

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