CHAPLET Ernest

Ernest Chaplet (1835–1909) was a pioneering French ceramist and sculptor, renowned for his transformative role in the evolution of modern ceramic art. Born in Sèvres, a town with deep-rooted ties to porcelain production, Chaplet began his career at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, where he acquired an exceptional technical mastery of firing, glazing, and form. His early exposure to both industrial rigor and artistic experimentation would define his lifelong pursuit of ceramic innovation.

After leaving Sèvres, Chaplet worked for several Parisian manufactories before joining the Haviland workshop in Auteuil in 1875, where he directed the artistic laboratory. There, he developed new glazes and stoneware techniques, blending traditional craftsmanship with avant-garde creativity. His collaboration with leading artists such as Félix Bracquemond, Jules Dalou, and Auguste Rodin further expanded the expressive potential of ceramics, elevating the medium from utilitarian craft to fine art.

In the 1880s, Chaplet opened his own studio in Bourg-la-Reine, where he perfected his experiments with red stoneware, oxblood, and sang-de-bœuf glazes inspired by Asian ceramics. His partnership with Paul Gauguin between 1886 and 1887 marked a crucial artistic turning point: together they produced a series of symbolic and sculptural stoneware pieces that blurred the boundaries between pottery and sculpture.

Celebrated for his technical daring and aesthetic sensibility, Chaplet received a gold medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur. Despite periods of financial difficulty and relative isolation in his later years, he remained deeply committed to his craft, working until failing eyesight forced his retirement.

Ernest Chaplet died in Paris in 1909, leaving behind a body of work that bridged art, chemistry, and philosophy. Revered by later generations of ceramists, he is remembered as one of the key figures who redefined ceramics as an independent and expressive art form at the turn of the twentieth century.