Art Nouveau Mantle Vase, Emile Diffolth For Boch Freres Kermamis C1900

This beautiful Art Nouveau mantle vase has a lovely unusual shape, with an exuberant iris motif and gilt highlights. This piece was designed by Emile Diffolth (1856-1933) for Boch Freres Kéramis. Stamped to the base with its pattern number (452), this lovely example of Art Nouveau ceramics dates to the early 1900’s. This period which saw a movement away from the printed monochrome drawings of the last 50 years and the beginning of what would become the Art Nouveau era. The century‘s interest in Japanese and Chinese deign can be seen in the form.

Emile Diffloth introduced gilt additions to BFK ceramics. The colors and fluid shapes of the iris flowers seen in this piece are a departure from the monochrome and Delft motifs seen in previous years. The piece is mentioned in “The Beath of Prometheus,” a Boch Keramis publication featuring 50 iconic pieces from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Period, and is listed in the company’s 1903 catalogue.

Diffolth became artistic director of Boch Freres Kéramis in La Louviere in 1899. In 1910, he moved to University City, Missouri, to work for Taxile Doat as a ceramics teacher at the School of Ceramic Art. At the 1929 Salon of the Sociéte des Artistes Français, he was awarded a gold medal. His work was on display at the Galliéra Museum in Paris.

Minor losses to the glaze at handle and on body, as pictured, which do not impact the beauty of the piece.

Height: 17cm

Width: 26cm