Exploring new firing and glazing techniques and their myriad effects on traditional forms was an exciting approach for many experimental turn-of-the-century ceramists. Here the acid green and dark umber glaze takes on the quality of copper patina. The metallic effect of the glazed stoneware thus produces a double mask in a clever play off the subject from the Comedia dell’Arte. There is also a macabre quality to the glaze as if acid green tones had become the new shadow. The era’s new forms of electric lighting, whose mercury components cast a sickly greenish hue, called forth profound states of inner dread, or ennui, and alienation which so often characterized modern urban life at the turn of the century. The popular Pulcinella-like mask motif found new relevance within this modern way of life. The partnership between Alphonse Voisin-Delacrox and Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat was short but prolific. Following the untimely death of Voisin-Delacroix in 1893, Dalpayrat dropped the VD stamp of their partnership and used  the exploding grenade to distinguish his pieces as he did on the underside of this mask.