Antique Weller Sicard Sicardo Art Nouveau Iridescent Floral Jardinière USA

Made in USA c. 1902-1907

Approximately 8" high x 10 3/4" wide x 10 3/4" deep.

Exceptional antique American Art Nouveau art pottery jardinière from the celebrated Sicard (Sicardo) line of Weller Pottery, Zanesville, Ohio, circa 1902-1907.

Designed and decorated in the manner developed by French ceramic artist Jacques Sicard for Weller, this substantial jardinière features an extraordinary metallic iridescent luster glaze with richly layered blue-green, turquoise, copper, gold, rose, purple and crimson tones.

The rounded vessel is extensively decorated with a large stylized blossom and sweeping organic foliate forms, creating the fluid naturalistic ornament associated with the Art Nouveau movement.

The interior is finished in a deep copper-red/burgundy luster glaze, while the exterior changes dramatically with the light, revealing flashes of metallic color across the surface. The decoration is signed “Sicard Weller” within the exterior design.

Samuel Weller brought Jacques Sicard and Henri Gellie from France to Ohio to develop metallic-luster pottery for Weller. Sicard had previously worked with Clément Massier in France, a pioneer of metallic iridescent ceramics. Weller's resulting Sicardo line was technically difficult and costly to produce, requiring specialized metallic glaze applications and reducing firings. Production was limited, and surviving examples are highly collected today. Museum collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian institutions and The Henry Ford document Sicard's work for Weller during this important early-20th-century period.

A particularly impressive large-format example of Weller's scarce Sicardo art pottery, combining substantial jardinière form, extensive hand-applied Art Nouveau decoration and the highly distinctive iridescent metallic surface for which Jacques Sicard's work at Weller is renowned.

Excellent antique condition with no chips, cracks or repairs. Please review all photographs carefully as they form an important part of the description and condition assessment. Antique ceramics may exhibit minor irregularities associated with hand manufacture and firing.