Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10

Royal Copenhagen Art Nouveau Vase by Knud Valdemar Engelhardt

About the Item

Our extraordinary porcelain vase with cover by Knud Valdemar Engelhardt (Danish, 1882-1931) for Royal Copenhagen dates from circa 1916, and features a unique celedon colored crystalline glaze with abstract blue and white flower heads and patinated bronze cover with reticulated finial. Stamped ROYAL COPENHAGEN with three wave painted mark and signed with the artist's cipher, VE and K 9. Provenance: East Asiatic London Co.; Philippe Denys, Galerie Philippe Denys, Brussels. Literature: D.R. McFadden, Scandinavian Modern Design 1880-1980, New York, 1982, p. 263, pl. 247. The unique glaze of this important piece was designed by Engelhardt, who in 1891 succeeded Adolphe Clement as the technical manager at Royal Copenhagen. Influenced by the ceramics from Sevres, Engelhardt was a leading innovator of crystalline glazes as represented by our monumental vase, the largest and most important example of its kind to come to market in many years. Engelhardt's jewel-like glazed works won acclaim at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904 where they were acquired by collectors that included J. Lionberger Davis, whose ceramics from the exhibition were later given to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. The artist is considered among the first great Danish commercial designers of the industrial age. Trained as an architect, Engelhardt is admired for his designs across a wide variety of mediums, including ceramics, font design, street signs, and the design of tram cars for Copenhagen Tramways (Københavns Sporvogne). In 1927 he was awarded the Eckersberg Medal, issued annually to a single artist by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied in 1910-1911. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting.
  • Creator:
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Diameter: 12 in (30.48 cm)
  • Style:
    Art Nouveau (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
    Porcelain,Glazed
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
    1910-1919
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1916
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    New York, US
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 0921stDibs: LU6079226521762
More From This SellerView All
  • French Ormolu and Patinated Bronze-Mounted Marble Vases with Covers by Gagneau
    Located in New York, US
    Our pair of vases with covers by Gagneau of Paris, originally fitted as oil lamps, are modelled as neoclassical maidens supporting vases. Crafted from rouge marble with ormolu bronze mounts. Removeable lids reveal the removeable pierced fittings stamped GAGNEAU. Gagneau a Paris, also known as Maison Gagneau...
    Category

    Antique Late 19th Century Urns

    Materials

    Bronze

  • Pair Jasper Stone Vases
    Located in New York, US
    Our pair of antique vases are carved from reddish brown jasper stone and date from the late nineteenth century. In good condition with scratches and small...
    Category

    Antique Late 19th Century European Neoclassical Vases

    Materials

    Stone

  • Christopher Dresser Faux Cloisonne Vases for Mintons
    By Minton
    Located in New York, US
    Our exceptional pair of enameled porcelain vases in the Chinese cloisonné style were designed by Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) for Mintons. They feature one side with a dragon an...
    Category

    Antique Late 19th Century British Chinoiserie Vases

    Materials

    Porcelain

  • Monumental Antique Bohemian Gilt Glass Vase
    By Harrach Glassworks
    Located in New York, US
    Our very large (33 1/2 inch tall) and elegant gilt-decorated glass vase on stand dates from the third quarter of the 19th century. Attributed by ...
    Category

    Antique Mid-19th Century Czech Neoclassical Vases

    Materials

    Glass

  • Pair Lenti Murano Glass Vases After Ercole Barovier
    By Ercole Barovier
    Located in New York, US
    Our beautiful rare pair of Lenti glass vases from Murano, after the innovative series by Ercole Barovier for Barovier, Toso & Co, 1940, are crafted from iridized pale violet glass wi...
    Category

    Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases

    Materials

    Art Glass

  • Boucheron Parcel Gilt Silver Vase and Oil Lamp circa 1880
    By Fréderic Boucheron
    Located in New York, US
    Our important parcel-gilt and patinated silver and glass-mounted vase and matching oil lamp were designed by Paul Legrand (1840-1910) and crafted by the silversmith, Charles Glachant, for Boucheron of Paris, circa 1878-1880. 21 in tall and 16.5 in wide (53.4 by 41.9 cm). 28.56 lbs, 457 oz, 14,210 g. Provenance: presented to or purchased by Jean-Baptiste Pezon (1827-1897); acquired by a European private collector, perhaps on the death of Jean-Baptiste Pezon in 1897, by descent; acquired by YM Antiques, 2017. This double walled vase has an amphora form, with body and foot with silver, gilt and patinated and stylized flowers, anthemions and sprays of cherries against an etched and matted ground pierced to reveal a gilt inner wall. The upper body is detachable via a slip-lock, and mounted on both sides with arched panels formed of hexagonal beveled glass tiles. One glass panel applied with bacchic infants taunting a rearing goat and the other side with infants feeding grapes to a lioness under a looming bust of a satyr. The patinated and gilt upswung loop bifurcated handles are mounted with fully modeled figures of Pan bearing a syrinx and thyrsus and a draped maenad playing two flutes, both above roaring lion heads, the rim inset with a slip-lock detachable gilt bowl etched with masks of various representations of Bacchus spaced by ribbons and trophies and with scrolling fruiting vines. The base of interior with detachable base metal drip pan to accommodate the removable oil lamp designed to illuminate the glass tiles from within. The lamp is raised on four hoof feet, the upturned ends cast underneath with masks and with detachable cover mounted with two infant satyrs and flanked by gilt loop handles. The bacchic themed design featuring cartouches depicting infants taunting a goat and lion, plus prominent lion masks at the handles, certainly appealed to Boucheron's customer, Jean-Baptiste Pezon (1827-1897), who is believed to have commissioned the piece. Pezon was the celebrated lion tamer and headliner of the Grande Menagerie whose profession brought him great fame and fortune in Paris. Born a shepherd boy in Lozere, he is said to have left his home at the age of seventeen in the company of a wolf he had captured and trained years earlier. He headed to Paris and by the age of twenty-one purchased his first lion who he named Brutus. The animal is said to have inspired the Lion of Belfort, the monumental red standstone sculpture by Frederic Bartholdi erected in Belfort in 1880. Toulouse-Lautrec was among his admirers and friends, visiting Pezon's Great Lozerian Menagerie to sketch animals. A large bronze sculpture of Pezon atop a female lion adorns the Pezon family tomb in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, as seen in our image here. The vase and detachable bowl are marked on the underside with the silversmith's mark of Charles Glachant. The underside and upper rim of the lower body is engraved "Fic Boucheron Paris". The lamp is marked on underside and flange of cover for Glachant. Boucheron archives indicate the vase was inspired by the amphora vases created by the Greek potter, Nikosthenes, 550-510 BC. The Nikosthenic amphora vases are a form of Attic vase recognized for their angular amphora form with broad flat handles. Potted of bright orange-red clay, they were decorated with plant and animal motifs within distinct friezes, with the most significant defining feature being the black figure painting, often highlighted with white accents. In this vase Legrand re-imagines the striking contrast of the black figures against a warm ground through the use of patina and gilding. His inventive use of piercing and double-wall construction create additional levels of texture and depth throughout the body. The same combination of ornamentation was employed in a ewer designed by Legrand in 1880 in the Islamic taste. (See lot 77 of Christie's sale in New York on October 22, 2009.) Edmé Bouchardon (1698-1762), royal sculptor to Louis XV, may have provided Legrand with inspiration for the vase's iconography. The panel featuring bacchic infants taunting a rearing goat is very similar to a bas relief representation of Winter designed by Bouchardon for the Fontaine des Quarte-Saisons on rue de Grenelle, Paris. Bouchardon debuted his plaster model for the bas relief in 1741, and the fountain was completed in 1745. The Boucheron firm, founded by the celebrated jeweler, Frédéric Boucheron...
    Category

    Antique 1880s French Greek Revival Vases

    Materials

    Silver

You May Also Like
  • Valdemar Engelhardt (1860-1915) for Royal Copenhagen. Unique porcelain vase.
    Located in Copenhagen, DK
    Valdemar Engelhardt (1860-1915) for Royal Copenhagen. Unique porcelain vase. Beautiful crystal glaze. Approx. 1900. Measures: 24.5 x 13 cm. In excellent condition. Signed.
    Category

    Early 20th Century Danish Vases

    Materials

    Porcelain

  • Royal Copenhagen Art Nouveau Vase
    Located in Copenhagen, DK
    Royal Copenhagen Art Nouveau vase. Measures 9 cm. x 6.5 cm. In perfect condition. 1st. factory quality.
    Category

    20th Century Danish Art Nouveau Vases

  • Unique Art Nouveau Vase "Garden of Eden" Bode Willumsen, Royal Copenhagen, 1946
    By Royal Copenhagen, Bode Willumsen
    Located in Odense, DK
    Unique faience vase handmade by Danish artist Bode Willumsen in 1946 at workshop of Royal Copenhagen, Denmark. The vase is modelled with an amazing pierced motif of Adam and Eve in t...
    Category

    Vintage 1940s Danish Art Nouveau Vases

    Materials

    Faience

  • Royal Copenhagen, Art Nouveau Porcelain Vase for Hanging
    Located in Copenhagen, DK
    Royal Copenhagen, Art Nouveau porcelain vase for hanging. Decorated with dandelions. Model 342/220 Approx. 1920. First factory quality. In p...
    Category

    Vintage 1920s Danish Art Nouveau Vases

    Materials

    Porcelain

  • Art Nouveau Frog Lidded Vessel by Christen Thompson for Royal Copenhagen
    By Christian Thomsen, Royal Copenhagen
    Located in Chicago, US
    Christian Thompsen (1860 - 1921) for Royal Copenhagen. Established in 1775, Royal Copenhagen grew to become one of the major producers of Danish porcelain. 1895 marked the beginni...
    Category

    Antique Early 1900s Danish Art Nouveau Vases

    Materials

    Stoneware

  • Royal Copenhagen Crackle Vase
    By Royal Copenhagen
    Located in Kastrup, DK
    Royal Copenhagen crackle porcelain vase with scalloped rim. Orange and grey striped crackle glaze with gold decorative trim. Hetch style. Marks...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Other Vases

    Materials

    Porcelain

Recently Viewed

View All