Vase

Ernest Chaplet

ca. 1891 · Porcelain, brass · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Creating a marbled glaze required an extensive knowledge of chemical reactions and firing temperatures. Chaplet’s exhaustive experiments in the kiln would cost him dearly—a firing accident led to his eventual blindness, ending his career as a potter. In despair, he destroyed all his notebooks containing his secret techniques.

Artist

Ernest Chaplet

Date

ca. 1891

Medium

Porcelain, brass

Culture

French, Choisy-le-Roi

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection, Purchase, Acquisitions Fund; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and 2011 Benefit Fund, 2013