Charming ceramic wall mirror by French artist Mithé Espelt, executed in her signature hand-glazed earthenware with gilded detailing. The frame features a whimsical composition of two stylized birds facing one another beneath a radiating canopy, flanked by floral motifs.
The relief decoration is rendered in Espelt’s characteristic palette of warm ochre, honey brown, and cream against a matte dark ground, with fine gilt accents outlining the forms. The birds’ rounded bodies, simplified features, and rhythmic repetition reflect Espelt’s poetic, naïve-modern aesthetic rooted in mid-century French decorative arts.
Marie Thérèse Espelt, aka. Mithé Espelt (1923-2020)
Born in the town of Lunel, near Montpelier; Mithé Espelt began her career in 1943 creating ceramic buttons for haute couture collections at the Nathalie Pol and Lydia Chartier’s atelier in Paris. In 1946 she decided to return to her hometown and set up her ceramic workshop in an annex building next to the hotel de Bernis that she had inherited from her grandfather. She married the lawyer Maurice Figère, who decided to leave his career aside and follow her in her artistic work. The choice of an artistic life allow them to travel and get inspiration from other cultures, something that is palpable on her works. She made everyday objects such as jewelry boxes necklaces, mirrors and other home accessories, and never signed them, as she wanted them to remain accessible to all publics. Today Mithé’s work are recognizable by the quality of their craftmanship. Her pieces are often made with crackled gold enamels and colored glass incrustations, which were a technical challenges requesting several rounds in the kelns and hours on the work stations. Mithé Espelt worked until the year 2000. Her workshop continues to exist but is now run by her daughter, Marion de Crécy.