Stamp mark with addition "France". Late 19th c. Inscribed "Louis Carrier Belleuse" on the base. Model no. 1704 12 99 PIM. Designed by Louis-Robert CARRIER-BELLEUSE (1848-1913 Paris)

Majolica, colorfully painted. H 80 cm. 21.4 kg.

Monumental sculpture of a male peacock with unfurled tail feathers, on natural base with shell. Spring wheel partly restored, 3 springs punctured.

Choisy-le-Roi belongs ürt since about 1804 to the important centers of French ceramic manufacturing. In 1836, Louis Boulenger (1773-1850) and Hippolyte Hautin took over the management of the local faience factory. Their children Adolphe Boulenger (1805-1873) and Alexandrine Hautin (1814-1900) married and had 4 children, including Hippolyte Boulenger (1836-1892), who became the owner of the company in 1863 and continued it under the name H. Boulenger & Cie (Hautin Boulenger & Cie). During this period, the manufactory employed about three hundred people and expanded its production with numerous majolica designs. The main competitor was the Alsace-Lorraine ceramics factory in Sarreguemines, which was annexed by Germany after the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Since some workers from Sarreguemines refused the German affiliation, they moved to Choisy-le-Roi and brought their technical and artistic skills to the production. Subsequently, Boulenger produced the finest majolica in France and gained a great reputation at international exhibitions. Hippolyte Boulenger opened a store in 1889 at 18 rue Paradis in Paris, where the new designs of the manufacture were exhibited. Among the most impressive pieces are monumental majolica vases with hens, chickens and other birds modeled by Paul Comolera and Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse. Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse (1848 Paris - 1913 Paris) was a French painter, sculptor and ceramist. He became the artistic director of the Faiencerie of Choisy-le-Roi in 1889 under Hippolyte Boulenger. In the same year he received a silver medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris and was decorated with the Order of the Legion of Honor. The longest collaboration took place after the death of Hippolyte Boulenger with his son Paul Boulenger. An unusual development in Carrier-Belleuse's career was the establishment of his reputation as a sculptor in Central America. This seems to have begun with a commission for the tomb of the liberal reformer and modernizer of Guatemala, President Justo Rufino Barrios, who died in April 1885. In 1891 Carrier-Belleuse designed the National Monument of Costa Rica, a bronze monument unveiled in 1895 in the Parque Nacional of San José commemorating the 1856/57 national campaign and Costa Rica's freedom heroes.

Literature : Majolica International Society, Denton, Texas: Choisy-le-Roi. Origines Gallery, Arles: Choisy-le-Roi, H. Boulenger. Rehs Galleries, Inc, New York, NY: Biography - Louis-Robert Carrier-Belleuse (1848 - 1913).

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