Vase

This vase is part of a range of eggshell porcelain products that the Rozenburg factory in the Netherlands became famous for at the end of nineteenth century. Extremely thin, the composition of Rozenburg’s eggshell porcelain wares closely resembles bone china. The seamless combination of an angular top and rounded body that form this delicate vase is typical of J. Jurriaan Kok’s innovative designs for Rozenburg. The swirling, elongated petals of the chrysanthemum flower design, painted by J.W. van Rossum, echo the fashionable whiplash lines of Art Nouveau.

J. Jurriaan Kok joined the Rozenburg factory in 1893, where he led the development and promotion of the eggshell porcelain range. Kok’s experimental wares successfully appealed to a market willing to pay for high quality design and production. [1] The range attracted great acclaim at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle and by 1906, when this vase was produced, Rozenburg eggshell porcelain products were enthusiastically collected by individuals and museums. By 1914, when Kok had left the company, demand for the range had declined and the Rozenburg factory eventually went into liquidation in 1916.

This vase was a particular favourite of the Andersons, who received it as a gift from the jeweller and collector K.A. Citroen in 1963. The Andersons’ visit to the exhibition of Citroen’s collection of Art Nouveau works at the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt in 1962 had inspired them to develop their own collection. [2] A vase very similar to this one can be found at the Hessisches Landesmuseum, which acquired Citroen’s extensive collection of Art Nouveau in the 1960s.

The Andersons went on to collect two more vases and a cup and saucer from the Rozenburg eggshell porcelain range, painted with similar distinctive floral designs.

Lisa Newby, May 2020

[1] John A. Popper, ‘The Rozenburg Factory: an exercise in Anglo-Dutch co-operation’, The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1890-1940, No. 7 (1983), 34-41 (p.37).

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