Claudius Linossier Dinanderie Vase

This rare Claudius Linnossier vase is the artist’s adaptation of the Greek Calyx Krater, an ancient vessel used for the mixing of water and wine. The decoration includes a row of pyramids and sun symbols. ) The circle within a circle was the symbol of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Linossier rendered this sun in a cool blue anthracite. The row of pyramids is contrastingly rendered in mottled patinated copper. The suns are set on a ground of burnt umber sky. During the Art Deco period, the pyramid and sun symbol was ubiquitous among Egyptian Revivalists and Theosophists (a 19th century spiritual religion that deeply influenced the early abstract artists.) Linossier’s variation combined both the Christian “Eye of Providence” and the Akhet, an Egyptian hieroglyph that represents the sun rising over a mountain.