20th Century Celadon Cup by Fouilhoux

Origin of a fascination

Born in 1947, Jean-François Fouilhoux has been involved in the art of fire for over thirty years. In 1969, he discovered the celadons in the Calmann room of the Musée des arts asiatiques, the Musée Guimet: this was the starting point of his fascination with this technique and this colour.

The researcher

He therefore set out in search of the celadon of the Southern Song (1127-1279), rediscovering it to better reinvent it. “I tried to imagine how a 12th century Chinese potter could reason and work.

Although it appeared in China in the 2nd century, celadon enjoyed a golden age that extended from the 11th to the 14th century, beginning with the Song and then Yuan dynasties. The parts manufactured, initially utilitarian, were increasingly destined for the sole pleasure of contemplation. The history of the technique gives us an astonishing palette of colours, going as far as pale green, silvery, almost transparent.

Many tests have allowed him to obtain this glaze that the Chinese call fenqing “blue or powder green”.

The creator

Enamel is used to cover resolutely contemporary sculptures. He appreciates angles, breaks, sharp edges: the celadon modulates, comes to life by sliding, letting the earth appear.

In 1985, he developed a flexible blade that allowed him to obtain all the effects he wanted. He does a first job in the wet dough, quickly. The interior always remains polished, finished: it is through this opposition between the indefinite and the defined that Jean-François Fouilhoux best defines his creations.

International reputation

Jean-François Fouilhoux now lives and works in France, in Mont-près-Chambord in the Loir-et-Cher. His works are acquired and preserved in many national museums such as the National Museum of Ceramics in Sèvres, the Ariana Museum in Geneva or the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.