Vase

The vase comprises a narrow cylindrical form of frosted glass resting on a domed green base with a scalloped edge. Applied in full relief, the trefoil petals of a bloom, possibly a stylised lily, ornament one side of the vase. The petals, stem and leaves are skilfully rendered in yellow, green and colourless glass. Viewed from the side, the leaves wrap around the body of the vase, creating hollows of negative space that add drama to the vessel’s tubular form.

No manufacturing marks appear on the vase, and the attribution to Wilhelm Kralik Sohn is made on the basis of its resemblance to a vase in the Helmut Hentrich Collection, Dusseldorf. [1] Wilhelm Kralik Sohn (established 1881-1938) produced smelt-decorated glass with naturalist motifs that appealed to the fashionable tastes of the company’s European customers. A high level of craftsmanship was demanded to realise the sinuous lines of this inventive design.

Ernst Heinrich Haeckel’s (1834–1919) Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature, 1899) and nature-inspired grammars of design such as Floriated Ornament (1849) by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852), served as sources of inspiration for artists active at the turn of the century. [2] Design that expressed a deep appreciation of botany and the patterns found in nature came to be associated with the Art Nouveau sensibility.

The artist, Derek Hill presented Lord and Lady Sainsbury with the vase as a gift in 1964. [3]

Vanessa Tothill, October 2020

[1] A similar design can be viewed at

http://www.prague-art.cz/catalogue/authors/1-unknown-author/683-art-noveau-vase/ [accessed 6 October 2020]

[2] Cybele Gontar, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2006

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hd_artn.htm [accessed 6 October 2020]

[3] Amanda Geitner and Emma Hazell, eds, The Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau (Norwich: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, 2003), p. 19.