1960s Large Accolay Green & Oxblood Flambe Ceramic Vase, French MCM Studio Pottery

Details

Description

Large Ceramic Baluster Vase by Accolay (25 x 17.5 cm / 9.8 x 6.9 in), Dramatic Green and Oxblood Red … Read more Large Ceramic Baluster Vase by Accolay (25 x 17.5 cm / 9.8 x 6.9 in), Dramatic Green and Oxblood Red Flambe Glaze (France, c. 1960) - Excellent, Minor Collar Chips

At Maisons Rares, every piece is personally curated: beautiful historical objects from renowned French designers and manufacturers, as well as art from around the world.

This is a large and dramatic ceramic vase by the celebrated Poteries d'Accolay, one of the most collected names in French Mid-Century ceramics. Its powerful baluster form and striking flambe glaze, a deep mottled green rising into a rich oxblood red, make it a genuine statement piece and a superb example of Accolay's more ambitious decorative work.

History & Craftsmanship: The Poteries d'Accolay
The Poteries d'Accolay were founded in 1945 by four young former pupils of the ceramist Alexandre Kostanda, who settled in the village of Accolay, in the Burgundian Yonne, to create freely. The workshop's first success came the following year with a commission of ceramic buttons for Christian Dior's revolutionary New Look collection, and from there the collective grew into one of the most inventive and prolific names in postwar French ceramics, its bold glazes and assured forms now keenly collected as icons of French Mid-Century Modern design.
While Accolay is often known for smaller pitchers and vessels, this piece belongs to its larger, more sculptural production, where the workshop's mastery of dramatic, multi-coloured flambe glazes is fully expressed.
It is incised Accolay beneath the base, the collective mark of the workshop.

Design & Aesthetics: Green Rising to Oxblood
The vase takes a generous baluster form, a full, rounded body drawn up through a waisted neck to a flared, everted rim. The wheel-thrown surface is left with fine horizontal ribbing that catches the light and animates the glaze across its whole height.
The glaze is the piece's tour de force. A deep, mottled emerald and forest green pools across the body, streaked and flecked with white and slate where the firing has moved it, then rises and transforms into a rich, clouded oxblood red across the shoulder, neck, and rim. This green-to-red flambe, difficult to control and beautiful in its unpredictability, gives the vase a living, painterly surface that shifts with the light and rewards viewing from every angle.

Condition & Authenticity
The vase is in excellent vintage condition, with a glossy, well-preserved glaze and no cracks or restoration. In the interest of full transparency, there are two small glaze chips to the collar, on the rim of the neck, shown close up in the photographs. They are minor, confined to the rim, and do not detract from the piece's strong visual presence.
Fully authenticated, it is incised Accolay on the underside, the collective mark of the celebrated Burgundian workshop.
Like all pieces from our collection, this item comes with a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Maisons Rares.

Design context
A vase of this scale and colour is made to anchor a space. We recommend giving it room as a standalone sculptural object, on a console, a mantel, a sideboard, or the floor, against pale plaster, warm wood, or a dark contrasting wall where its green-to-red glaze can glow. Display it empty to celebrate the glaze and form, or fill it with a generous branch or dried arrangement. It brings depth and warmth to mid-century, collected, and contemporary interiors alike.

Technical Specifications
Creator / Manufacture: Poteries d'Accolay (Accolay, Yonne, Burgundy)
Period: Circa 1960
Origin: Accolay, Burgundy, France
Material: Wheel-thrown and glazed ceramic (faience), flambe glaze
Dimensions: 25 cm high x 17.5 cm wide (9.8 x 6.9 in)
Style: Mid-Century Modern / French Studio Pottery / Accolay
Condition: Excellent vintage condition. Two small glaze chips to the collar (neck rim), shown in the photographs. No cracks or restoration.
Authenticity: Incised collective signature Accolay under the base. Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Maisons Rares. See less