Product Description
Christian Thomsen / RC Denmark Rare “Frog and Dragonfly” Art Nouveau vase 1901
CHRISTIAN THOMSEN (1860-1921) Denmark
ROYAL COPENHAGEN
“Frog and Dragonfly” vase 1901
Glazed porcelain with a frog in 3-D sculptural relief looking at a dragonfly seated on a calla lily leaf looking up at the blossom.
Form number 280
Marks: ROYAL COPENHAGEN, CROWN, 465/250, 3 wavy lines (Royal Copenhagen) insignia, inscribed A. 250
For more information see: Musterbuch KPF, um 1930, Illustration number 204; Porzellan, Kunst und Design 1889 bis 1939, vom Jugendstil zum Funktionalismus (Berlin: Bröhan-Museum, 1993) p. 467, ill. 435; Sammlung Bröhan: Kunsthandwerk 2, Metall, Porzellan (Berlin: Bröhan Museum, 1977), pp. 222-285.
H: 9″ x Dia: 3 1/2″
Christian Thomsen was employed at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory (Royal Copenhagen) in 1898, and was employed there until his death in 1921. Thomsen is said to have had a huge impact on Royal Copenhagen’s success throughout the 20th century. A large part of the recognition by the Royal Porcelain Factory has enjoyed over the years, they can thank Christian Thomsen for. He produced more than 100 different figurines, especially he had a fondness for agricultural characters, children figurines, figurines inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, fauns and trolls, and not least charming animals and bird figures.
Christian Thomsen / RC Denmark Rare “Frog and Dragonfly” Art Nouveau vase 1901
HECTOR GUIMARD (1867-1942) France
MAISON COILLIOT Lille, France
Tile c. 1898
Fired and glazed lava with abstract whiplash motifs in various tones of aqua blue on the obverse and a partial graphic on the reverse with polychrome floral and linear details.
Marks: 16 (on top of tile)
French architect Hector Guimard (1867-1942) realized the decorative possibilities of glazed lava, a substance made from mixing pulverized lava with clay when he built a villa for Louis Coillot, (1898-1900) a ceramics manufacturer in Lille who monopolized the distribution of the material. Guimard sided the entire facade of Maison Coilliot in lava stone.
***A related glazed lava tile from the Castel Henriette is in the Collection of the Musee d’Orsay.
The Maison Coilliot is an Art Nouveau house located on 14, rue de Fleurus in Lille, France. Louis Coilliot, a French ceramic entrepreneur, was fond of enameled lava and wanted to popularize the technique. To do so, Coilliot commissioned Hector Guimard, an architect he’d met at the 1897 fair La Céramique et tous les arts du feu, (“Ceramic Arts & Glass Making”), to apply the technique to his house’s façade. Coilliot’s factory and warehouse were located to the rear of his house, and therefore the façade held a double
purpose, both decorating the front of his home and advertising his business.
For more information see: Hector Guimard, 1867-1942: Architektur in Paris um 1900 (Munich: Museum Villa Stuck, 1975)
H: 25 1/2″ x W: 14″ x D: 9/16″