Cups, basins, dishes
Bowls have a utility function: they are used to display flowers, like Ferdinand Barbedienne’s vases, or as ashtrays, or as trinket bowls. They also play a decorative role, by their colors or their decor, whether they represent engraved or sculpted scenes. This is the case for the “Orwell” bowl designed in 1981 by Christian Duc, made out of cooked powder-lacquered steel and black Bakelite, as well as for the “Yellow bowls” produced by Mathieu Mathégot in 1955. The perfume burners are containers for burning essences and perfumes. These vases are commonly composed of precious metals like bronze, but also ceramic and alabaster. They vary in shape. A whole perfume burner has a pierced lid to vent the burning perfumes. In architecture, burners are stone ornaments also named “pot-à-feu”. They represent stone vases letting flames or smoke out of their top. Some names are often spoken for this kind of items: Matégot, Thomire, Barbedienne, or even Georges Pull whose studies on Bernard Palissy led him to create several bowls in the 19th century.
