THE ITEM
This fantastical brutalist piece is known as the 'Hedgehog' is by the renowned ceramic artist and designer Gunnar Nylund, (b.1904 - d.1997). Nylund became well known for his Chamotte sculptures and this piece was designed during his time as artistic director at Rörstrand.
Personally, I also see a resemblance to the thick shaggy fleece of a Scandinavian mountain sheep in the Chamotte decor. Chamotte is also known as firesand, a ceramic raw material which has a high percentage of silica and alumina. It can be produced by firing selected fire clays to high temperatures before grinding and screening to specific particle sizes.
A very tactile piece, the rough yet gloss-glazed decor is a fabulous juxtaposition and gives an ideal canvas to create varying hues in emerald green glaze. This piece would be well suited to a room with Modernist, Contemporary or even Industrialist theme inspired decor.
CONDITION
Superb. No cracks or repairs. There is light wear to the glaze that is commensurable with age - please refer to photos as part of the condition report.
The base bears the inscribed Rörstrand stamp that was in use between 1943 to 1950. Stamp bears inscription of 'Rorstrand', 'Sverige', 'Chamotte' and 'Nylund'
MEASUREMENTS
Height: c. 6.3" / 16 cm by c. 5.1" / 13 cm in width (across body's widest point)
Base diameter: c. 2.6" / 6.5 cm
Unpackaged weight: 1.5 kg / 1,485 g
NOTES
Vase will be securely packaged and shipping will be insured.
Shipping will be combined for multiple items.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Gunnar Nylund (1904–1997)
Nylund was a Swedish ceramic designer since the 1930s, best known as the artistic director of Rörstrand and was already a well-established ceramic artist in Denmark - first at the Bing & Grøndahl Porcelain factory in Copenhagen and later at Saxbo.
Nylund was resident at Rörstrand from 1931–1955 and for the majority of this time, as artistic director. He became well known for his new matte feldspar glazed stoneware in hare’s fur and crystal glazes and for his stoneware animal sculptures. Over five decades, Nylund crafted some 30 reliefs and sculptures commissioned for public spaces, including Europe’s largest stoneware fountain the “Scanisarius” in Bromölla, Sweden.
Most of Nylund’s original sculptures in stoneware chamotte ended up in museums, as did much of his other work. Sculptures such as the “Lion Head” is found at the National Museum in Stockholm, “Blue Bird” is at the Sèvres museum in Paris, his antelope head “Abyssinian mountain nyala”, is at the Röhsska museet in Gothenburg and the “Hamadryas Baboon” is at the Malmö Museum.
His piece “Bulls head in oxblood” was bought by the Ateneum museum in Helsinki. And a lot of his other work can be found at other museums around the world.
Rorstrand (1726 - present)
Rörstrand was founded in the castle of Rörstrand in Stockholm 1726 under the direction of Johann Wolff, a German porcelain maker. This makes Rörstrand the second oldest brand of ceramics in Europe (after Meissen, 1709).
Dating the Rorstrand Mark
During the 1940s the word 'Sverige' was added to the signature stamp, and from 1951, 'Sverige' was translated to 'Sweden'.
More information about Rorstrand be found at: http://www.rorstrand.com/about-rorstrand/our-history