Rozenburg pottery vase, model 331 with birds and flowers by Willem Hartgring

Description

This vase was made by the Rozenburg pottery factory in The Hague in 1897. The vase has a decoration of various birds and flower buds. The vase was painted by Willem Hartgring in a wonderful colour palette of blue, turquoise, ochre yellow and brown. You can see two important sources of inspiration for this Rozenburg painter in this decoration. On the one hand, it is the 16th and 17th century Iznik pottery from Turkey (see photo below – left). The flowers on the belly and especially the neck of this vase are reminiscent of this Iznik pottery. On the other hand, you can see the influence of the 19th century woodcut prints by Japanese artists, such as Hokusai and Bairei (see example of this below – right). This influence is especially visible in the birds, for which Willem Hartgring was so famous. These two – at first glance so different – oriental influences come together in a very creative way in this decoration and that makes this vase very special and such a good representative of Orientalism, one of the most important influences within Art Nouveau. The vase is model 331, a design with a wide belly and a narrow neck. The vase is 28 cm high and 19 cm wide. The object is well signed with the factory name: Rozenburg Den Haag, the year sign: K for 1897 and the work order number 1014. The vase is in mint condition.
Not for sale, private collection