Ernest Bussière, a French Art Nouveau sculptor and ceramist, first debuted at the Salon of 1883, at the age of twenty. Born and raised near Nancy, he trained as a sculptor at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts, supporting himself by working for Louis Majorelle at the time. He began providing sculptural models for Keller & Guérin, a faïencerie firm, in 1896, where his ceramic works were based mainly on abstract plant forms, made with a fine white earthenware clay, which were glazed twice and fired at low temperatures, resulting in a thin "skin" of refracting pigments on top of a velvety base. While there, he produced and exhibited a series of decorative objects, for which he won great critical acclaim in 1899. He continued to collaborate with Keller & Guérin until 1909, when his final pottery exhibition took place, and then returned to his life as a sculptor and professor at the École des Beaux-Arts until he passed away in 1913.