Charles GREBER (1853–1935). Free Thought. Glazed ceramic pla - Lot 1

Charles GREBER (1853–1935). Free Thought. Glazed ceramic plaque 25 x 23 cm. Firing cracks Stamped on the reverse: “Greber Beauvais France.” Originally from Austria, the Gréber family settled in the Beauvais region in 1846, where they distinguished themselves over four generations in the fields of ceramics, sculpture, and even architecture. The family’s founder, Johann Peter Gréber (Bezau, 1820–Beauvais, 1898), settled in Beauvais in 1846 after a brilliant academic career at the Polytechnicum in Munich and a stay in Paris. As a sculptor, he contributed to decorative projects (the Episcopal Palace of Beauvais, the astronomical clock in Besançon) and restoration work; he also created all the stone sculptures for the new church at the Chapelle aux Pots. In 1868, he applied for a permit to establish a kiln “for firing sculpted earthenware art objects.” He thus founded his “Beauvais Stoneware Manufactory,” in collaboration with his two eldest sons, Paul and Charles. The region had been renowned since the Middle Ages for the quality and hardness of its stoneware clays. Their early works drew on both local tradition and a neo-historical style. They were first exhibited in 1878 at the Paris World’s Fair.