Edouard Cazaux (1889-1974) Art Deco Cup "antelopes & Phoenix"

Large oblong bowl with raised edges from the Art Deco period around 1925 signed by Edouard CAZAUX (1889-1974) famous ceramicist trained at the Beaux-Arts in Paris and at the Sèvres school, he set up his workshop in 1918 in Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, where he would produce ceramics with decorations inspired by ancient arts and the animal world. Beautiful shaped piece in enameled ceramic with delicate colors and gold backgrounds depicting gracefully stylized antelopes among branches and scroll patterns, one inside is approached by a phoenix with outstretched wings. Very good condition, dimensions: 24 cm long X 16.5 cm wide X 8.5 cm high. Note two similar cups sold for an average of €2,000 at Millon a Drouot (see photo) Edouard Cazaux (1889-1974), from a family of potters based on the southern coast of Landes and the Basque Country, distinguished himself by his dual training as a sculptor and ceramist. He left for Tarbes as a ceramic worker in a factory specializing in utility products, before moving to Paris. Edouard Cazaux quickly found work as a turner at Rivière, rue de la Roquette. Back in Mont-de-Marsan for his military service, he took evening drawing classes and met the sculptor Charles Despiau. In 1912, he won a scholarship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the École de Sèvres; at the same time, he perfected his training by working in various workshops, notably with Edmond Lachenal, known for his experiments in gilding earthenware. Under the influence of his friend Despiau, Cazaux participated in Paris from 1921, as a sculptor and ceramist, in several Salons (Salon des Tuileries, Salon des artistes décoratifs and Salon d'automne). He regularly exhibited the fruits of his research at the Rouard gallery and at the Grand Dépôt. From 1918, Édouard Cazaux settled with his wife, a former student of the École des beaux-arts and valuable collaborator, in La Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, in the Paris region. He set up a workshop in which he built two circular kilns, like those of Sèvres, for his stoneware and earthenware. He continued his work as a sculptor by building monuments (Biarritz war memorial in 1921). During these fruitful years, alongside his contemporaries Decoeur, Lenoble, Buthaud and Mayodon, Cazaux developed ceramics that combined religious, antique and animal themes. Édouard Cazaux approached ceramics as a technician. He experimented with the famous copper red, so difficult to obtain, which he fixed in the decorations, but he remains especially known for the use of Norton stoneware: the shortage of raw materials during the Occupation led him to use the long tunnel kilns of Norton, a manufacturer of grinding wheels for industry, whose temperature could reach up to 1800°C, to fire his ceramics; he then developed a paste resistant to these high temperatures. This experience gave rise to a series of vases covered with milky enamels standing out against natural backgrounds which were presented at Rouard in 1946. His research then led him to combine sculpture and pottery as evidenced by the anthropomorphic cache-pot kept in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, made in several copies around 1950. After the war, Cazaux withdrew to La Varenne, tirelessly pursuing his work as a ceramist and sculptor.