A MIHRAB POLYCHROME POTTERY TILE PANEL, SIGNED AWLAD CHEMLA (SONS OF CHEMLA), TUNIS, DATED 1350 AH/1931 AD

Ex-private collection, France.

Founded in 1880 as a small ceramic studio named 'El Qallaline' on the route de la plage a la Goulette near Tunis by Jacob Chemla, this small family enterprise soon expanded to become one of the most celebrated producers of ceramics in Tunisia during the nineteenth century. Originally supported by the Tunisian government in an effort to revive ancient ceramic techniques and styles, notably from the Hafsid period (thirteenth-fourteenth century), the Chemla family concentrated on creating traditional Tunisian ceramic pottery. In circa 1910, Jacob Chemla started to work with his three sons, Victor, who became the chief ceramicist, Mouche (Moshe), who was a very accomplished draughtsman, and Albert, who acted as the business manager for the family (Loviconi 1994, p.99). They set up their workshop at 32, route du Bardo in Tunis under the name 'Les Fils de J.CHEMLA'. From this point on, their creations were signed Awlad Chemla, Tunis ('sons of Chemla, Tunis') as on the present example. Each brother signed with his own motif, notably a bunch of grapes for Victor, a cat for Albert, and a fish for Mouche. Further signatures were used by the other craftsmen involved, such as a pansy for Gabrielle (Gabo), who was related to the wife of Jacob Chemla and a hand of Fatima or stylised carnation for André, victor's son (ibid, pp.109-110).

The family’s passion for historical Tunisian pottery is evident in their choice of colours and the style of design employed in the production of their ceramics. This tile panel and the next were produced in the customary Chemla palette, comprising a cream-coloured background with multiple blue hues, notably dark blue and grey-blue, a deep, ochre yellow, an emerald green and lighter, olive green, with a brown tone used to outline the design and evoke the more ancient technique of cuerda seca (Loviconi 1994, p.100). The traditional mihrab features as a backdrop to the composition on the both tile panels; the current lot presents a beautiful vase from which outflows a magnificent floral bouquet and the next lot reveals a fantastical architectural setting, featuring a mosque and fountain evoking the garden of paradise

The Chemla family participated in international exhibitions in Marseilles and Paris where they were awarded major prizes as well as a silver medal in the ceramics category. Notable monuments created by the Chemla family in Tunisia include the Palace of Justice, the Hotel de Ville, the Alaoui college, Institut Pasteur, the Sfax theatre, and the villas of the architect Valensi, the Levy brothers, the hotel Dar Zarrouk, and the murals on the villa of the Count d’Erlanger at Sidi-Bou-Said (http://www.chemla.org/ceram2.html). Similar tiles panels and more works by the Chemla family are in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaisme, Paris, inv.no. 2018.11.001.

This family tradition continues to this day in France through André Chemla, the great grandson of Jacob. For further information on the Chemla family production and illustrated examples, see Loviconi, Alain and Dalila, Faïences de Tunisie, France, 1994, pp.97-112. For more information on the Chemla family, see Monique Goffard, Lucette Valensi, Jacques Chemla, La céramique, une histoire de famille, website: http://www.chemla.org/ceram.html.