Cab, Bordeaux Art Ceramics. Ovoid Vase, 1930

CAB, Bordeaux Art Ceramics. Large ovoid vase in green reticulated enamel on shiny black enamel. Hollow mark CAB 370 Made in France. Period 1930. H: 31 - diam: 18 cm. Bordeaux Art Ceramics (CAB), the last Bordeaux factory Manufacture or rather workshop, Bordeaux Art Ceramics (1919-1947) completes the cycle of the tradition of earth and fire arts in the Gironde capital. Far from the industrial and mass productions of the Vieillard factory, which however produced rare pieces with sought-after work, CAB moved towards more artisanal work. The existing workshop, bought to launch this new activity, was located at 39 avenue Saint-Amand in Caudéran, in the Bordeaux metropolitan area, and was not suitable for large-scale manufacturing. The factory with its 1,000 m² cannot be compared to Vieillard's facilities of 50,000 m², 30,000 m² of which are covered. But, above all, that was not the intended goal. Jean Mérillon, its founder, is a wine merchant by trade. Just after the First World War, in 1919, he bought this small business at the age of sixty-seven. In fact, he was satisfying an old passion for ceramics. Great-grandson of the Bordeaux earthenware maker Boyer, he trained from time to time in working with clay and enamels, as an amateur but with a certain talent, notably at Vieillard. In his old age, he surrounded himself with friends, Bordeaux notables - merchants, industrialists, politicians, lawyers - interested in the decorative arts, to set up Céramique d'Art de Bordeaux. The artistic and technical direction was entrusted to Félix Gête, a former tailor in Paris. The objects that came out of the CAB workshops were immediately a break with what had been done in Bordeaux until then and were part of the decorative arts trends that were seeking to renew themselves in France at that time. The production focused on vases and dishes and abandoned the utilitarian register...