Alexandre-Joseph Landais, Eel and fish dish, Circa 1880, glazed ceramic, Tours, France

This dish is presented as a trompe-l’œil: a large white dish decorated with blue garlands features four fish and an eel. Although the artist’s aesthetic fantasy is more realistic than realistic, the naturalism with which Landais creates these aquatic animals must be recognized.

Signed “A. Landais”, this dish is the work of Alexandre Landais, son of Charles-Joseph Landais (1829-1908). Like his father and grandfather, Joseph Landais, he became a naturalist. He took over the workshop, carrying on the family ceramics tradition, while experiencing the difficulties of making a living from an art that was going out of fashion at the very end of the 19th century.

Like Avisseau, Alexandre-Joseph Landais applied his glazes directly to the body. He used a wide range of nuances to achieve particularly seductive color effects.