Cracked Ceramic Perfume Burner Night Light - Robj - Period: Art Deco

Here is a sublime and rare night light, perfume burner in cracked ceramic entitled "the fortune teller" it is accompanied by an owl on its shoulder.

This beautiful Craquelé in brown and gold was designed by the house Robj in Boulogne - Billancourt.

Period : Art deco
Dimensions : Height : 15cm
Dimensions : Height : 10cm x Length : 21cm
Stamped under the base

The Robj style is cheerful and mischievous, they are colorful trinkets, sometimes utilitarian, always humorous.

From cubism, Robj retains the bright colors and the simplification of the forms which confer to its creations a playful and warm aspect.

One of the great successes of the house, that of an entire era in fact, are the crackles. 

The 1930's saw the birth of a real vogue for these figurines, most often animals.

Originally, the cracking that appears on certain ceramics is a manufacturing defect, but from the 1920s onwards, it becomes a new aesthetic criterion and the thermal shock that causes it is deliberately reproduced.

When they come out of the kiln, the pieces are immersed in cold water and then covered with a white, matte or glossy glaze.

It is only at the end of the decade that we see the appearance of colored cracks.

Once again, the origin of such a process is to be found in the Far East. 

Already in the 12th century, the Chinese used this technique, called "truité" to make their own crackles.