A long-term collaboration between Jeff Koons and the Bernardaud company

For fifteen years now, Maison Bernardaud has been collaborating with Jeff Koons , the American star of Balloon Dogs , whom one imagines to be light-years away from this world of tradition, which boasts 160 years of history in Limoges. The latest creation is a strange creature, a giant lobster in matte red with acid yellow veins, like the bronze one suspended upside down in the Grand Royal Apartments at Versailles in 2008 during the reign of its president, Jean-Jacques Aillagon. This time, it is made of porcelain, a pop-art trompe-l'œil, oversized and improbable, a centerpiece—the central element of the meal during the Grand Siècle—that appears inflated with air like the child's inflatable ring made in China that inspired the first work.

Also read: Jeff Koons: "I like the optimism of the avant-garde and of surrealist Dali"

Composed of 18 removable elements, including 13 compartments concealed in the claws, the fan-shaped tail, and beneath the plump shell, Lobster (26 × 59 × 85 cm) required nearly eight years of development and numerous exchanges with Jeff Koons. The artist has a vision…