Art Nouveau era French Sevres porcelain vase from the atelier of Paul Milet, son of Optat Milet. Decorated with tube lining and turquoise, brown and purple glazes embellished with gold leaf. Hand painted with pink wisteria flowers against a cream ground with scattered gold flecks. Marked for Paul Milet, circa 1900. The Milet family often worked in collaboration with decorators and ceramicists, the signature Rob is likely for Robillon, one of several decorator collaborators. Mounted with French sterling silver collar and base. Hallmarked with the French Minerve 1st standard mark in use from 1838, indicating a silver content of 950/1000 (of 95% pure silver and higher than the standard .925 for sterling). Bearing makers marks for Tétard frères, active from 1903 at 4 rue Béranger in Paris. Measures 5 3/8" height x 3 1/4" widest. In good condition with general wear. There is a minimal chip to the glaze located at the lower right of the decorator's signature, visible in the picture. Some glaze cracks to the interior opening of the vase likely from the making.
Paul Milet, son of Optat Milet, came from a well-defined lineage of potters. Optat Milet began his career as a modeler for Sèvres in 1862, and opened his own ceramics factory in 1866. Paul Milet entered his father's pottery workshop in the town of Sèvres in 1894 and for the next 36 years produced high-quality ceramics sold through Parisian shops and interior decorators. Because his aesthetic preferences kept pace with the fashions of the era, his early works like this vase, favours the floral and whiplash ornamentation associated with the Art Nouveau movement. By comparison, his later work is serene yet streamlined, with simple forms flambe glazed in high-contrast bold jazz-age colors indicative of the Art Deco era.