Pair of vases Amphora Imperial Turn. Austria, ca. 1910

Pair of vases AMPHORA IMPERIAL TURN. Austria, ca.1910.
Enamelled porcelain.
With maker's marks and numbering on the reverse.
Some old restoration visible (on the head and wing of one angel, and a finger on another).
Measurements: 59 x 27 x 17 cm.
Pair of ornamental vases of modernist or Jugendstil style. In enamelled porcelain, it is characterised by its soft tones and the nice sculptures of two classic putti in each vase: one of them is entangled between the floral festoons and the other one observes its companion from above. Between the two vases there are subtle differences in the position of the graceful bodies. The structure of the vases evokes the shape of a large raffia basket decorated with garlands of small mauve flowers, among which the putti frolic.
The Austrian manufacturer Amphora was founded in 1892 under the name Riessner, Stellmacher & Kessel (R.S.K.) Amphora in Trnovany, now in the Czech Republic (then Turn-Teplitz, Bohemia, Austria). Already in its early years, the factory received awards for the excellent technical and decorative quality of its pieces at the international exhibitions in Chicago in 1893, San Francisco in 1893 and 1894, and Antwerp in 1894. In 1905 Eduard Stellmacher left the firm to form his own company and the firm was renamed Amphora Factory Riessner & Kessel. In 1910 Kessel also left, and between 1910 and 1945 the name of the factory was changed to Amphora Works Riessner. In 1945 the factory was nationalised.