Platter

This monumental ceramic platter illustrates the interconnectedness of the fine and applied arts in France during the era of radical artistic innovation around 1870. It was created by Félix Bracquemond, a printmaker and designer who was deeply embedded in the Parisian avant-garde. The thickly modeled stoneware form is enameled with an arrestingly bright landscape in yellow, orange, red and green. At the center of the composition a vibrant, craggy mountain rises above an ominously dark waterfall. The boldly delineated landscape elements recall Japanese woodblock prints, which Bracquemond admired.