Vase

The orchid design applied to this delicate hexagonal vase was used across a range of eggshell porcelain wares designed by J Jurriaan Kok for the Rozenburg factory in the Netherlands. Carefully painted, against a white background, the stylised flowers and whiplash lines of the foliage are characteristic of the fashion for Art Nouveau. This vase was painted by Sam Schellink, who had joined the Rozenburg factory as an apprentice in 1892. Schellink became highly regarded for his work on Rozenburg’s innovative eggshell porcelain range, which was developed and promoted by Kok in the late 1890s.

Wafer-thin, the composition of Rozenburg’s eggshell porcelain wares closely resembles bone china. The range caused a sensation at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 and production expanded. By 1904, when this vase was made, the Rozenburg factory’s eggshell porcelain wares had an established market, with customers willing to pay for high quality design and production. [1] By 1914, when Kok had left the company, demand for the range had declined and the Rozenburg factory eventually went into liquidation in 1916.

The Andersons purchased this vase in 1965 for their Art Nouveau collection, which includes two other vases and a cup and saucer from the Rozenburg eggshell porcelain range, 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).