Alfred Jean Foretay

ALFRED JEAN FORETAY (Switzerland, 1861-1944).
Jug "Frogs," ca. 1900.
Silver-plated pewter.
Signed on the back.
Weight: 1,500 g.
Bibliography: Philippe DAHHAN, Étains 1900, 200 Sculpteurs de la Belle Époque, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2000, reproduced p. 141, fig. 379.
Measurements: 20 x 20 x 15 cm.

French Art Nouveau silver-plated pewter pitcher. The side handle is modeled as a branch, and the body is decorated in relief with an aquatic and naturalistic scene: a nymph together with frogs and profuse vegetal decorations.

Alfred Jean Foretay's work encompasses Art Nouveau sculpture and Impressionist painting. After training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris as a student of Alexandre Falguière, the artist exhibited at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français, receiving the gold medal in 1904. Although he returned to Switzerland in 1911 to focus on architectural decoration, his legacy includes a remarkable production of statuettes, busts and decorative vessels in pewter and alloys in Art Nouveau style. His artistic versatility also led him to develop landscape painting after a stay in the south of France.