Jugendstil tabletop vase, AMPHORA. Austria, ca. 1900.

Jugendstil tabletop vase, AMPHORA. Austria, ca. 1900.
Hand-painted ceramic, with hard stone appliqués.
With stamps on the base and incised numbering.
Measurements: 26,5 x 16,5 x 16,5 cm.

Modernist vase manufactured by Amphora-Werke Riessner around 1900. It is decorated with a female portrait that recalls the paintings of Klimt and other painters attached to the Viennese Secession, as well as the work of artists such as Alfons Mucha, a leading figure of the Germanic Jugendstil. The allegorical portrait follows the "ivory porcelain" model characteristic of Amphora. The exquisiteness of the execution is combined with the delicacy of the form and the quality of the materials. Represented with delicate lines, the idealized profile of a young woman with almond-shaped eyes is framed by a hairstyle that blends with the decorative profusion combining hard stones of different qualities, colors and textures. The bust is cut on a natural landscape, in the upper part, worked with harmonious gradients, followed by a golden frieze rich in textures and a third floral level.

The Amphora manufacture 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 was awarded for the extraordinary technical and decorative quality of its pieces at international exhibitions such as Chicago in 1893, San Francisco in 1893 and 1894, and Antwerp in 1894. In 1905 Eduard Stellmacher left the company 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 became Amphora Works Riessner. In 1945 the factory was nationalized.