Vase

This vase was designed by J. Jurriaan Kok in 1901 when the Rozenburg factory’s eggshell porcelain range was enjoying enormous success. Kok had become managing director of the Rozenburg factory in 1895, where he led the development and promotion of their experimental, wafer-thin eggshell porcelain products. His stylish forms had caused a sensation at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle and the Rozenburg factory expanded its production of these innovative, high quality wares. [1]

The brightly coloured, flowing floral motifs used on this vase are typical of the eggshell porcelain range and signal the fashion for whiplash lines and stylised natural forms. This vase was painted by W.P. Hartgring who had joined the Rozenburg factory as an apprentice in 1887 and had quickly become a master painter at the firm.

By 1914, when Kok had left the company, demand for the eggshell porcelain range had declined and the Rozenburg factory eventually went into liquidation in 1916.

The Andersons purchased this vase in December 1965, after seeing it in an exhibition of Art Nouveau works at the Grosvenor Gallery in London. Sir Colin’s notes in the Sainsbury Centre Archive suggest the vase was originally part of K.A. Citroen’s collection. [2] The Andersons collected two more Rozenburg eggshell porcelain vases and a cup and saucer, all painted with similar distinctive floral designs.

Lisa Newby, April 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).

[2] Sir Colin Anderson Papers, Sainsbury Centre Archive.