Faust and Allegory Vases

I bought a little 1919 chalet on Lake Arrowhead that had been vacant for years this winter, and I am studying its architecture and, more broadly, decorative art of the period. Coincidence? Synergy? Everything I look at trickles back to this period, like DD’s vase, from the first quarter of the 20^th century. This 30-year period in the history of design is so fruitful because styles were butting heads and, in some cases, blending. DD’s vase is a blend of:

-Arts and Crafts Art Pottery

-Viennese Secessionist design

-German Jugendstil

-Exoticism, nature, sexual motifs

-Art Nouveau

-Mission Craftsman designs in the U.S.

Under the more inclusive umbrella of Art Pottery, this era was distinct in the freedom of flowing line, the unique colored glazes, the naturalistic form, unique scale and sizes, the focus on animals, the female form, marine life, and flora. 

Very close to where my grandfather Herbert was born, near Dresden, there’s an area abundant with kaolin-rich soil (the Turn Teplitz region) so productive in the late 19th, early 20^th centuries and known for porcelain and innovative designs. One of the makers of DD’s vase, Alfred Stellmacher, developed a unique composition for his “slip,” ivory porcelain, resistant to high temperatures. 

Here’s how DD’s vase is labeled: “Turn Teplitz Bohemia, R st. K Made in Austria.” R st. K is the sign for Riessner, Stellmacher, Kessel, a partnership in Teplitz that called its wares “Amphora.” The company was known for “allegory” vases, vases that referenced a story: in this case a Faustian image of Gretchen, the maiden despoiled by Faust.

Each of the three founding partners – Riessner, Stellmacher, and Kessel – brought a different approach to the pottery business, and so successful was their distinctive porcelain that they won a Gold medal at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Stellmacher broke from the firm in 1905 and formed his own company in the kaolin-rich region, which was teeming with other porcelain factories at the time. Stellmacher quit in 1912, taking with him the finest designer of the era in this style, the artist Paul Dachsel. The factory that remained was thus called Reissner and Kessel Amphora works. When Kessel departed, he company became Amphora-Werke Reissner. And still the quality of design was the best in the Art Porcelain world. 

Through those tumultuous years when the competition was high, Amphora was considered the finest amongst connoisseurs and remains highly regarded to this day. Amphora created a unique Lizard Vase, the sinewy beastie crawling up the length of the piece, the glazes handmade. Unique organic references were a feature of both Art Nouveau and Austria German Secessionist-Jugendstil designs. And each vase that was lovingly created lead to a more innovative vase. 

For example, a competitor not far away in the early 20^th century was Zsolnay in Pécs, Hungary, that sent spies to infiltrate the Amphora factory and collect specimens of the vases. 

Even though there was intense competition in a small geographical area, we don’t know many of the artists’ names who designed, cast, or painted the vases. If you remember what was going on in the world, anonymity of the artists is not surprising as the era saw WWI, communism, the flu epidemic, and the impenetrable kiln fires. 

The artisanal climate of the turn of the last century is interesting to me as a buyer of a 1919 cottage. Why did this era produce some of the world’s finest design innovations? Why is this period’s art pottery considered very valuable? To give you an idea, Philip Chasen Antiques in East Norwich, England has a similar vase to DD’s, a female bust in medieval garb, a central theme of Art Nouveau. That bust bears the same attribution mark, is 11×5”, and is offered for $6,600. Another dealer, Morgan Strickland of Hannay Lane, London, has a similar allegory vase bearing a serene face somewhat in the style of Alphonse Mucha. That piece is offered at $4,500.

The answer to the values achieved for Amphora is the quality of the artistry – which incidentally improved over the period 1890-1920 because of competition amongst artists. During this time, Amphora gathered artists trained at the Imperial Technical School for Ceramics and Associated Applied Arts (1885-1917), where the students went through years of study, were asked to create works from live models (such as a live lizard), and delved into studies on the nature of clay and chemical composition of the glazes. Not a piece was “passed” by the professors unless they thought it worthy. If a design was deemed good enough to go into production, it was given a number, as we see on DD’s vase, and entered into the décor books. Those books were lost in WWII.

The value of DD’s vase is $3,500.