20th Century French White Ceramic Cup

20th Century French white ceramic pitcher by René Maurel, 1970's.

This ceramic cup is finely decorated with a female figure returning from fishing. The inside of the bowl is surrounded by a slew of fishes. It is signed below.

Painter and ceramist, René Maurel has built his reputation on the precision of his decorations, his geometrical forms, covered with shiny and cloudy glazes. His chromatic range, harmonious and refined, sometimes offers a serious tone that can be found in his still lifes or his abstract compositions.

From 1945 to 1960, Maurel is settled in Vallauris, the capital of art ceramics and pottery on the Côte d'Azur, whom the reputation of the village had been boomed by Pablo Picasso's arrival. René Maurel is quickly and quickly distinguished himself from local production by his precision – in sgraffiato patterns – , technicality, chromatic sensitivity and imaginative iconography. Then he settled not far from Nice, in Tourettes-sur-Loup until 1974. The artist's works feature a bestiary of fish, ibexes, cats and other birds, as well as characters, "historiated" decorations and lettering. René Maurel always retranscribes his creative universe in a stylised manner.