Dish

Thomas Victor Sergent (1834–1906), who frequently characterized himself as a “fabricant de faïences artistiques” or manufacturer of artistic earthenware, was celebrated for his craft during his lifetime. While his ceramics are still sought after today, he has been little researched and his full body work is not well-known. Sergeant seems to have spent his childhood in Brittany, in the northwest of France, he was born in the small town of Iffendic but only two years later he is recorded living with his parents in Quimper, a city known for its long history as well as its tin-glazed earthenware industry. At the age of 17 he joined the French army and would serve until 1866 or 1867. He was living in Paris shortly after he left the army, where he was initially a bookseller and where he married Marguerite Pauline Ponée (1849–1919) in 1867. Marguerite Pauline's father Claude was a potter and her uncle and cousin, Victor and Achille Barbizet, were also important ceramicists in this period. With assistance from his wife and her family Thomas Sergent soon embarked on a significant career as a ceramic manufacturer, a path he would follow until the early 1890s. His Paris-based company regularly participated in regional and international exhibitions, including the world’s fairs in Vienna in 1873, London in 1874, Philadelphia in 1876, and Paris in 1878, likely in part to gain greater recognition and sales, especially on an international basis.

Sergeant’s earliest listings in Paris business directories notes his specialty as “faïences artistiques, genre Palissy” – indeed Sergent is most celebrated today for his “Palissy” pieces, like this dish. In the 1840s and 1850s several French ceramic artists in Tours and Paris began to make work inspired by pieces thought at that time to have been made by the French Renaissance potter Bernard Palissy (1510–1590). While many of these Renaissance ceramics are now thought to have been created after Palissy’s death, this group of 19th-century makers became known as “Palissystes” and enjoyed success. While Sergent was not part of this initial group, his wife’s uncle, Victor Barbizet, was one of the first working in this style in Paris. What Bernard Palissy dubbed “rustiques figulines” – ceramics decorated in shells, snakes, frogs, lizards, and the like and painted in vibrant glazes – were a major inspiration to Sergent, as can be seen in pieces like this one with its lively depictions of fish, reptiles, and plants set within a deep dish. Sergent’s firm seems to have somewhat haphazardly marked its production. While this example is not marked, it shares details of glazing, modeling, and handling of the animal figures that are also seen in marked Sergent examples.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Sale, Majolica Auctions by Michael G. Strawser, Hatfield, Pennsylvania, 1-2 April 2005, lot 717; purchased by Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, 2005; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2024.