André Rozay, Saint Francis, La Borne, 20th Century, Ceramic

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Item description:
A wonderful, rare, large glazed stoneware ceramic sculpture, entirely modeled and decorated by hand, then finished with metallic … Read more Item description:
A wonderful, rare, large glazed stoneware ceramic sculpture, entirely modeled and decorated by hand, then finished with metallic lustres, depicting St. Francis harvesting grapes with a sickle. The Franciscan religious order was famous for its motto "ora et labora," which literally means "pray and work," or "pray and toil," which is why they often performed very heavy work, especially agricultural work. The ceramic biscuit of the sculpture is extremely thick, in fact, it weighs over 2.2 kg. The object is signed on the back of one foot with an incised signature made with a metal nib by the artist, "La Borne Rozay," which stands for André Rozay, a very important French artist born in 1913 and died in 1991, who worked in the French town of La Borne, one of the oldest and most famous centers of French artistic ceramics. The style is very reminiscent of 1950s design by Italian artists such as Angelo Biancini, Guido Androvitz, Pietro Melandri, and even Giò Ponti.

Useful information for evaluating the item:
André Rozay is an important French artist who has achieved numerous auction results. Our web research shows that the artist's top four auction results in the "Ceramics" category, for items similar to ours in size and artistic quality, range from €4,900 to €19,000, to which auction fees of 25-30% must be added. On online art and antiques sales sites, however, similar sculptures are offered at a minimum of €1,800-€2,500 for the smallest ones, up to €11,500 for a large bas-relief vase. The items fetching the highest prices are unique pieces glazed in stoneware and finished with a metallic lustre, with a colouring and style very similar to ours. Consider that, again from our internet research, we found a sculpture very similar to ours, also depicting St. Francis, slightly smaller, offered on a leading online art sales site for €3,000.

Information about the artist and/or manufacturer:
André Rozay was a French ceramist born in 1913 in Foëcy (Cher) and died in 1991 in La Borne (Cher). He was one of the architects of the revival of French ceramic art in La Borne. A former student of the Vierzon School of Ceramics, the Bourges School of Fine Arts, and the Paris School of Fine Arts, he had a solid background in drawing and painting. He arrived in La Borne in 1943 to work for François Guillaume with Jean Lerat in Armand Bedu's workshop, thus escaping compulsory military service in Germany and living in La Borne illegally. He then worked in Alphonse Talbot's workshop and succeeded him in 1958. In 1962, he founded the La Borne Ceramists' Association with Pierre Mestre, Yves Mohy, and Claudine Monchaussé, and organized the first in a series of annual exhibitions in the former workshop of wheelwright Émile Foucher. This association was the forerunner of the current Association of Ceramists and the Center for Contemporary Ceramics in La Borne. Rozay, a founding member of the Association for the Conservation and Protection of the Ceramic Heritage and Site of La Borne, created the Museum of Traditional Ceramics in the old village chapel with this association in 1987. André Rozay created numerous sculptures with a very decisive stylization and vigorous forms, exactly like our Saint Francis, renewing the themes of Bornois's imagery and ceramics, his favorite subjects. We owe him sculptures of animals with very refined forms, portraits, busts of artists, and full-length sculptures (such as Marie-Claire's shepherdess).

Weight of the object: 2.202 kg


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