Taxile Maximin Doat (1851–1939) was a French potter who is primarily known for his experimentation with high-fired porcelain (grand feu) and stoneware using the pâte-sur-pâte technique. His book on these techniques Grand Feu Ceramics was published in 1905 and helped spread his discoveries internationally. His influence is apparent in the types of glazes and approaches used in studio pottery in the twentieth century.
Doat worked at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres from 1877 to 1905, and was one of the artists who introduced the Art Nouveau style. Starting in 1895, Doat began working in a house at 47 rue Brancas in the village of Sèvres. These studio ceramics were different from the pieces he produced at the Sèvres factory, which often had small heads or figures in a Renaissance style, placed on fields relying on glaze effects for interest. He now replaced the typical classical subjects: garlands, gods, and drapery with new forms derived from the Japonisme that influenced French art pottery in the 1890s. He also began producing organic forms based on gourds, and employing new, grand feu glazes he invented.
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