Vase with Peacock Feathers

Auguste Delaherche (1857-1940)

c. 1889

Stoneware

One of five produced

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection. Purchase 2011 Acquisitions and other funds (2013.483)

The exhibition label points out that “although Delaherche would later denounce the use of ornament, he frequently used decorative motifs with feathers or floral patterns early in his career. Favored for their iridescence and exoticism, peacock feathers were a popular Art Nouveau motif, appearing on Tiffany glass and other decorative arts. Two examples of this vase were shown Delaherche's display at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889, where he won a gold medal.”

Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York