Vase with blue jay 1875 - 1885

François Laurin made this vase decorated with a blue jay out of earthenware. During the 19th century, artists like Laurin were part of a cultural movement that romanticized nature, reflecting a growing urban society's longing for the pastoral. This vase, with its carefully painted blue jay amidst flowering branches, speaks to a world increasingly distanced from the everyday experiences of the natural world. Think about the labor involved in creating such a piece. The mining of the clay, the shaping of the vase, the delicate painting, all point to the industrialization of art. Laurin’s vase offers a glimpse into a society grappling with its relationship to the natural world, even as it transforms it. It holds both an aesthetic and a social value, and in it, we can consider the economic structures that shaped its creation.