Émile Decoeur (1876-1953) was apprenticed to Edmond Lachenal from the age of 14 (1890) learning the essential pottery-making skills, initially in working and glazing earthenware. He began to exhibit independently from about 1901 and developed an interest in stoneware a year or two later, experimenting with more demanding glazes such as high temperature flammées. He opened his own studio-workshop at Fontenay-aux-Roses (Seine) in 1907, moving into porcelain - as did several of his contemporaries. Towards the end of his life he worked at Sèvres from 1939-42 and remained as consultant to the factory until 1948. Over a long career, Decoeur played an important part in French artistic and studio ceramics, specialising in thick, matt glazes in creamy greys, greens, blues and pinks. He introduced a variety of ornamental techniques like incising or carving, as on this vase, from around 1910.