At the same time, he frequented the workshop of the engraver Bracquemond in Sèvres, where he rubbed shoulders with some of the great artistic figures of his time: Rodin, Bourdelle, Monet, Gauguin, Henri Cross, as well as the dancer Isadora Duncan, whose movements he would later capture in his ceramic designs. However, Mayodon carried out his first experiments with earthenware at a ceramist friend’s home and, in 1912, built his own kiln in the family workshop, which he would retain for the rest of his life.

After the First World War, his career took a decisive turn. In 1919, he exhibited some twenty ceramic pieces at the Galliera Museum. Captivated by the decorative and chromatic richness of Oriental earthenware, Mayodon adopted fine earthenware as his primary medium of expression. Spotted by the dealer and publisher Rouard, who would support his work until the end of his life, he took part in an exhibition at the Sèvres porcelain factory in 1920, as well as in the Salon des Artistes décorateurs. In 1921, he was awarded a travel grant at the Salon d’Automne. The 1925 International Exhibition earned him an honorary diploma, and in 1927 he was appointed to the board of directors of the French Ceramic Institute.

In the 1930s, Mayodon expanded his work to include architectural decoration, which he produced mainly in glazed stoneware, notably for swimming pools, fountains and large garden vases. At the same time, he continued to work as a studio potter. He was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1931, and promoted to Officer in 1954. An artistic advisor at the Sèvres porcelain factory in 1934, he became its director between 1940 and 1942.

Mayodon designed his own forms, largely inspired by Greek and Etruscan antiquity, and mastered the entire creative process: decoration and firing. However, from 1930 to 1966, he entrusted the throwing of his pieces to René Auburtin, one of the finest potters at the Sèvres Manufactory. His work bears witness to a broad artistic culture, which he himself claimed: fascinated by Persian, Egyptian and Greek art, and Italian frescoes, he also held a particular admiration for the ceramist Jean Metthey, whom he regarded as a master of colour and gold.

With the exception of his monumental works in glazed stoneware, Mayodon made fine earthenware his medium of choice. His painted designs, almost always enhanced or veiled in gold, are the result of successive firings and complex technical processes that lend his works exceptional richness and depth. His vases, bowls and dishes, inspired by antiquity, evoke, through their sumptuousness, precious fabrics embroidered with gold and silk.

His decorative world is populated by figures in motion: female nudes, dancers, stylised animals. These motifs reflect a pronounced taste for painting as much as for sculpture, disciplines which he practised in tandem. His keen sense of volume and rhythm also led him to design decorative plaques, relief ornaments and even pieces of furniture, veritable enamelled and gilded sculptures.

He thus collaborated with leading interior designers such as Ruhlmann and Jallot, and some of his creations, with their rich colours evoking jade or turquoise, also found their way into Jean Després’s goldsmith’s work. Furthermore, he produced numerous decorative tiles for luxury bathrooms, in which, as in his entire body of work, the constant influence of ancient art, and in particular Greek vases, is evident.

Jean Mayodon thus emerges as a ceramist with a profound painterly sensibility, whose work is underpinned by remarkable technical mastery.