THE ITEM
It's easy to see why the decor of this vase was named 'Gold Fire', the marbling of the various shades of gold and iridescence creates an effect of liquid gold, the various colours swirling and in motion.
The illusion of movement is a wonderful representation of the Op Art design style, which emerged in the 1960s. The stark contrast of the external gold decor against the white porcelain on the inside is also a characteristic typical to Op Art. The colours of this decor reminds me of colours in Klimt's infamous painting 'The Kiss', and it's almost as if the vase is an ode to the painting.
The decor is created by the interaction of gold and marbling varnish, it's designer Drexler, who became a legend in his art, would go on to perfect and develop it into a well-known technique. Drexler developed many variations of the Gold Fire decor, its possible to find a few examples of the purple gold fire, whilst the red gold fire and pure gold fire - such as this piece is, is much rarer.
The gracefulness of this vase would be a beautiful accompaniment to a room with a print of this painting on display. The form of the vase is simple, with an absence of rigidly straight lines and instead, displaying gentle curves.
CONDITION
Very good, there are signs of use towards the inside base of the vase and faint wear, commensurate with age of the piece - please see photos as part of the condition report. Base bears the 'Rosenthal, studio-linie, Germany' and the 'handgemalt' (handmade) mark. There is also a small gold 'H' initial.
MEASUREMENTS
c. 7,.5" / 19 cm in height by c. 4.2" / 11 cm (across the body's widest point)
Unpackaged weight: 0.4 kg / 368 g
NOTES
Vase will be securely packaged and shipping will be insured.
Shipping will be combined for multiple items.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Rosenthal (1879 - present)
The company founder, Philipp Rosenthal, moved his porcelain painting skills from Werl (North Rhine-Westphalia) to Selb in Bavaria, which he industrialised in the castle Erkersreuth with his painting workshop. The company grew from strength to strength over the years, with original pieces designed by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Walter Gropius. By 1997, Rosenthal was the market leader for high-quality porcelain and glassware in Germany and was the world market leader in conjunction with Waterford Wedgwood. The company had grown from strength to strength over the years, with original pieces designed by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Walter Gropius. Rosenthal studio-line, a brand of Rosenthal made design-oriented crockery and art objects made of porcelain and glass.
Sadly, in 2008, the Waterford Wedgwood Group wanted to divest the Rosenthal share package due to liquidity difficulties and as a result of the subsequent collapse of Waterford Wedgwood, the company filed for insolvency in January 2009. Today, Rosenthal operates as an independent company and is part of Sambonet Paderno Industrie.
Helmut Drexler (1927 - 2016)
Drexler was a German porcelain painter and designer who developed new, unique decorative techniques during his career. Drexler encountered porcelain through his father, a porcelain painter at Rosenthal AG in Selb. With excellent academic achievements he was selected in 1942 for a boarding school education as a teacher but because he refused to join the Hitler Youth, he had to remain at the elementary school. Eventually, he began an apprenticeship as a porcelain painter at Rosenthal in Selb.
Drexler's career as a painter and designer would not begin until 1949, when Rosenthal hired him as a porcelain painter. From 1970 until retiring in 1990, he was decor manager and designer in the same company. His experiments resulted in a number of unique decors, which significantly influenced the appearance of Rosenthal products in the 1970s and 1980s. One of his early achievements is the decor "Goldfeuer", which Rosenthal presented at the 8th Artists' Day in 1985 and he was instrumental in the implementation of Bjørn Wiinblad's design idea for the "Scheherezade" décor.