Estimate and auction your Camille Fauré vases and other Limoges enamels

If you own an object by or after Camille Fauré, and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers can offer you their expert appraisal services.

Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value.

Then, if you want to sell your work, we'll point you in the right direction to get the best possible price for it.

Rating and value of works by Camille Fauré   

Camille Fauré is a French artist well known to collectors of Limoges ceramics and enamels.

If you own one of his works, it may be worth more than you think. On the art market, Fauré's works can fetch very high prices under the auctioneer's hammer.

His ceramic works are particularly prized by French and European buyers, and the price at which they sell on the art market ranges from €70 to €2,200, a fairly substantial range, but one that says a lot about the value that can be attributed to Fauré's works.

In 2012, two art deco enamel vases sold for €20,900, whereas their estimate was between €2,000 and €3,000.

Order of value from a simple work to the most prestigious

Artist Camille Fauré's style and technique    

With Camille Fauré, the question of style seems to be posed in terms of light and depth. We know of the artist's attachment to cloisonné enameling, a technique that transcends the surface to reveal an architecture of patterns and colors in relief.

"It wasn't simply a matter of decorating the object, but of animating it with a luminous vibration", as the Limoges workshops put it.

By the 1920s, his revolutionary approach had turned enamel from a simple coating into a living material, capable of capturing light and diffracting it into infinite nuances.

The rigor of classical forms is replaced by an ornamental richness in which curves and floral motifs unfold in fluid, weightless movements.

As one critic wrote, Fauré succeeded in "crystallizing in the enamel a dialogue between light and matter, where each hue seems to intertwine with an almost organic intensity".

This fusion of design and texture, while remaining faithful to the Art Deco aesthetic, frees itself from purely decorative constraints to give each piece a sculptural dimension.

The polished, uniform surface of traditional objects is replaced by a play of light and shadow, a dazzling materiality that redefines enameling as an art form in its own right. What we might call the metamorphosis of enamel into a visual and tactile symphony.

Camille Fauré's career

Camille Fauré's career seems to be defined in terms of singularity and daring. We know of his attachment to the art of enameling, an age-old tradition that he transforms into an unprecedented field of experimentation.

Born at the end of the 19th century and trained in the workshops of Limoges, he established himself in the 1920s as one of the pioneers of the revival of this craft.

"His contemporaries report: "It was a question of going beyond convention to give enamel a dazzling modernity.

Under his direction, the Fauré workshops became a laboratory where shapes and colors came together in original compositions, inspired by the Art Deco aesthetic. The discreet craftsman was succeeded by an audacious designer, whose pieces, often produced in limited editions, seduced an international clientele in search of refinement and rarity.

As one historian notes, Fauré succeeded in "imposing enamel as an autonomous artistic language, where each vase, bowl or box becomes a work in itself".

This recognition, while ensuring his enduring success, remains true to his vision: that of a craftsman turned artist, whose name today ranks among the great figures of enamelled decoration. What could be called the consecration of a career built on innovation and elegance.

The love affair between Limoges enamels and Camille Fauré

The history of Limoges enamels began long before Camille Fauré even existed. In the Middle Ages, liturgical pieces were produced to decorate churches and places of worship: hunts, eucharistic doves and processional crosses were used.

However, the revolution in Limousin enamel began during the Renaissance with the production of painted enamels, initially religious, then secular.

The Limosin, Nouailher, Reymond, Pénicaud and Courteys families skilfully tried their hand at this new style, creating masterpieces that are held in the world's greatest collections.  

At this time, Limoges art was beginning to shine throughout Europe, and European sovereigns liked to commission portraits and mythological scenes from these highly talented craftsmen.

It's not just Camille Fauré's creations that are sought-after at auction. Renaissance Limoges goblets, vases, ceremonial dishes, ewers and caskets are very rare and highly sought-after at auction. 

Today, these painted enamels can be sold for tens of thousands of euros. Keep an eye on them, and don't hesitate to ask our experts about any objects that might interest you.

The most fashionable pieces

From the 1920s to the 1930s, exceptional pieces emerged from the workshops, a production marked by relief enamels with decor inspired by Cubist painting, Russian ballets and the Art Deco decorative repertoire in bright, iridescent colors. 

Following this golden age, Camille Fauré's production declined in quality, moving towards a more figurative style with floral motifs, less sought-after by collectors.

Focus on Boule aux glycines, Camille Fauré

The construction of Camille Fauré's vases seems to be a question of volume and light, but also of dialogue with the times. Take the Boule aux glycines vase, a masterpiece from the 1920s, in which the art of cloisonné enameling reached an unequalled maturity.

Fauré's attachment to this technique is well known, as it not only sublimates the surface, but makes it a dimension of the work in its own right.

Here, clusters of wisteria, in relief, stretch and tangle, their vibrant shades of blue and violet seeming to capture the light to better reflect it.

"It wasn't just a matter of decorating an object, but of transforming it into a visual poem," say the master enameller's contemporaries.

This vase finds a particular resonance in the creations of René Lalique, who at the same time was exploring a naturalist aesthetic sublimated by glass.

At Laliquenature becomes fluid, translucent, almost unreal, while Fauré favors the density and materiality of enamel. As one critic notes, "Lalique transforms light into movement, whereas Fauré freezes it in vibrant opulence".

This opposition reveals two complementary visions: one ethereal, almost immaterial, the other anchored in a tactile, sculptural texture.

Fauré's work on this vase is also part of a dialogue with the decorative compositions of Jean Dunand. Dunand, a master of lacquer, shares with Fauré an extreme attention to surface, where texture and pattern become inseparable.

However, where Dunand favors flat tints with metallic reflections to create often abstract compositions, Fauré uses nature as the starting point for a formal transfiguration.

The wisteria, though figurative, flirt with abstraction in their rhythmic repetition, each petal becoming a chromatic unit that serves an overall composition.

This vase can also be placed in perspective with works by Clément Massierwhose iridescent ceramics, like Fauré's, explore a poetics of light.

But where Massier seeks a moving, almost elusive iridescence, Fauré imposes rigorous mastery, capturing light in the cloisonné relief of the enamel.

This rigor, halfway between craftsmanship and art, gives his pieces a rare monumentality, even in the most modest formats.

Finally, the Boule aux glycines illustrates Camille Fauré's own ambition: to set nature in a subtle geometry, where every detail is integrated into a global harmony.

The raw naturalness of wisteria is replaced by a stylized, reinvented nature, never disconnected from its origins.

Fauré's work is a perfect synthesis of tradition and modernity, where each vase becomes not just an object, but a manifesto of its time.  

Recognizing Camille Fauré's signature        

Not all objects produced by Camille Fauté are signed, or may be signed differently depending on the period. What's more, there are many copies, which is why it's important to appraise your work.

How can I obtain an estimate for a Camille Fauré vase or bowl?

If you own a Camille Fauré vase or any other piece of art by the artist, please feel free to request a free valuation by filling in our online form.

A member of our team of state-approved experts and auctioneers will contact you to provide an objective estimate of the market value of your Camille Fauré work.

If you're thinking of selling your Camille Fauré vase or bowl, our specialists will also guide you through the different solutions available to obtain the best possible price, taking into account market trends, the specific features of each item and your needs.