Olympic Games/ summer, 1924/ Paris/ - Lot 79

Olympic Games/ summer, 1924/ Paris/ Emile Louis Bracquemond (1889-1970) and Octave Guillonnet (1872-1967) Antique-style Sèvres vase, with its unmistakable blue color and airy neck, presented to the winners of the 1924 Games. One of only four models in an edition of 81, for a total print run of 324. Our example therefore features four of the sixteen disciplines on the program, and we are fortunate to have here subtly enhanced with pale green and golden laurel sprigs, alongside rowing and diving, the two great team sports of the Paris Games, association soccer and rugby soccer. Diam. top: 6.5 cm, bottom: 8 cm; height 33 cm. Perfect condition The representations are by the great Octave Guillonnet, and the ceramic work is by the no less famous Emile Louis Bracquemond (1889-1970). All the indisputable references are there, RF décor Sèvres, 1924...Football-rugby was making its last Olympic appearance here (it was present in 1900, 1908 and 1920), before reappearing in a new format (7-a-side) in 2016 in Rio. As in 1920, this mini-tournament was marked by violence, with the United States claiming victory. As for association soccer, it was in Paris that it really came into its own, with the Uruguayan team dominating Switzerland 3-0 in the final. The South American magicians really played ball, and helped to create the World Cup, the first edition of which was celebrated on their soil in 1930. With this incomparable vase, we also rediscover the genius of Octave Guillonnet (1872-1967), who in 1899 decorated the parlour of the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux with the most beautiful football-rugby piece ever created, a marvel measuring 4m by 15m...This high school, a pioneer of sport in France with an athletic association founded in 1889, had as its driving force a young student named Frantz-Reichel... He is featured in the painting, as he would be in the 1924 Olympic organization. A high-flying piece, and not just because of its collar.