Terracotta anthropomorphic pitcher, attributed to Joseph Chéret around 1890

This large terracotta pitcher, depicting a bearded man whose wide belly merges into that of the vessel, recalls the terracottas of Joseph Chéret, an art ceramist who bridged the gap between the academicism of Carrier-Belleuse and Art Nouveau.

Joseph Gustave Chéret (1838-1894), a Parisian sculptor and ceramist, was a major artist during the Second Empire. He was the brother of the famous poster artist of the “Belle Epoque” Jules Chéret (1836-1932), who was responsible for the emergence of chromolithography in France. Joseph Chéret trained as an assistant to the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse in his
in his Parisian studio at 15, rue de la Tour d’Auvergne. He collaborated with many companies such as Christofle in Paris or Emballer in Vienna until 1873. He made his debut at the Salon in 1863 and won a gold medal at the exhibition of the Central Union of Decorative Arts in 1882.