Mithé Spelt

MITHÉ ESPELT (Lunel, France, 1923–2020).
“Birds” Hand Mirror, 1960.
Polychrome glazed ceramic.
Measurements: 25 x 15.5 cm.
A hand mirror made of ceramic, designed by the French ceramicist Mithé Espelt. The work features a design consisting of a glazed ceramic frame decorated with bird motifs in shades of pink, a recurring iconographic motif in the artist’s body of work. The depiction of Mediterranean fauna, rendered in a stylized and highly delicate manner, reflects Espelt’s close connection to the artisanal tradition of southern France, as well as her particular sensitivity toward naturalistic motifs. The execution of the piece highlights the ceramicist’s technical mastery in the use of polychrome glazes—techniques that, combined with successive firings, produce surfaces of remarkable chromatic and tactile richness.
Mithé Espelt was one of the most distinctive French ceramicists of the 20th century, renowned for her glazed and gilded ceramic creations, particularly mirrors, jewelry boxes, small boxes, and small-scale decorative objects. Trained at the School of Fine Arts in Montpellier and later at the innovative Fontcarrade ceramics school under the direction of Émilie Decanis, she began her career in Paris working in Nathalie Pol’s studio, where she made ceramic buttons for haute couture houses and collaborated on the production of Line Vautrin’s designs. In 1946, she returned to her hometown of Lunel, in the Camargue region, where she established her own studio. There she created a poetic world inspired by Mediterranean nature. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Mithé Espelt deliberately chose not to sign most of her works, prioritizing the object over authorship. This decision meant that for decades, many of her creations were mistakenly attributed to other French ceramicists. It was only following the publication of a monograph dedicated to her work in 2020 and various research studies that her legacy began to receive the recognition it deserved, establishing her as a key figure in 20th-century French decorative arts.