Stoneware pitcher signed Jean Tessier, Atelier Le Cep

This beautiful and large turned stoneware jug features lovely clean and harmonious lines, along with a very nice glaze in shades of grey, beige, and chocolate. It is the work of Jean Tessier (1931-2020), with his signature and impressed mark in the material under the base, from the workshop Le Cep that he established in 1959 in Villenauxe la Grande. In this workshop, he also welcomed around sixty trainee ceramists from many countries between 1959 and 1980. Jean Tessier was a humanist, anti-consumption, and anti-advertising, so it gives me even more pleasure to offer you this jug. Before that, he graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and went to train in throwing with Pierre Lion in Saint Amand en Puisaye in 1952. Then, for two consecutive years, he did an internship with the Pierlot couple at the Château de Ratilly, before spending a year in Denmark between workshops and ceramic factories. He returned with the idea of combining ancestral artisanal know-how with modernity, refreshing the codes of tableware to return to the material, the form, and clean, contemporary lines that are more suited to modern life. His workshop would have up to seven employees in the 1970s. From the 1990s onwards, he dedicated himself to travel, especially to Japan, to other arts (notably calligraphy), to writing books, and giving lectures. I believe this jug dates from the 1960s or 70s, influenced by Scandinavian but also Japanese styles. It is in very good condition, with no cracks, chips, or even a nick, except for a tiny one under its base. It measures 28 cm in height, 17 cm in maximum width from the handle to the belly, and approximately 13.5 cm in maximum diameter (belly).