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Description
TOURS
Oval glazed ceramic dish with a polychrome naturalistic decoration known as ‘rustic figurine’ in the style of Bernard Palissy (c. 1510–1590), depicting two lizards, one of which is devouring a dragonfly amongst foliage. Chips and losses.
Signed on the reverse in intaglio: ‘Landais / Tours’.
Circa 1850.
L. 32 x D. 26 cm.
Background
Joseph, known as Joseph Charles LANDAIS (1800–1883), naturalist and ceramist. The son of Joseph Landais, a merchant, and Marie-Rose Lemaire (or Lemaitre), Joseph Landais left his parents at the age of eleven to work in a earthenware factory in Saint Pierre-des-Corps (Indre-et-Loire). There he came into contact with Charles Jean Avisseau. When the latter moved to the Sarthe, Joseph Landais repaired earthenware and porcelain and met a taxidermist who taught him how to prepare animal specimens. He would describe himself as a naturalist and skillfully stuffed birds.
On 17 June 1822, he married Anne Françoise Avisseau in Tours, and four children were born of this union: in 1824, Anne Octavie Olympe, who would assist with the creation of certain pieces; in 1825, Augustine Rose, who would marry the painter Henri Grandin; in 1829, Charles Joseph; and in 1837, Maxime Victor.
Tasked with restoring a dish by Bernard Palissy, he studied its method of manufacture and sought to claim credit for discovering the secret of Palissy’s enamels, a claim also made by Charles Jean Avisseau, with whom he had been in partnership since 1843; their partnership came to an end in 1846. Joseph Landais left No. 8 Rue Saint-Maurice and set up shop at Place Foire-le-Roi, then on Rue de la Scellerie, and finally on Rue René de Prie. Contemporary critics recognised a certain superiority in Avisseau’s work, but Landais excelled in composition and colour harmonies. In 1851, Joseph Landais was appointed ‘curator-caretaker’ of the Tours Museum, a poorly paid post which the ‘president of the museum’, Villiers du Terrage, attempted, without much success, to improve. On 30 March 1865, he donated to the museum a collection of thirty-six birds, two mammals and four ‘stuffed’ reptiles.
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About the sale
THE RETURN OF THE CLASSICAL ARTS
Auction location
Auction time
09/22/2026 at 11:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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