Footnotes

Provenance:
The Schiller-David Collection of Symbolism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco 1880-1930, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 5 February 2008, lot 142:
The Twinight Collection

See: Rozenburg 1883-1917. Geschiedenis van een Haagse fabriek (1983)p.200, fig.193 for an identical pitcher and decoration, order no. 46 of 1913


Rozenburg eggshell porcelain was one of the Dutch success stories in the field of 20th century ceramics. This exclusive Dutch Art Nouveau porcelain quickly became a beloved luxury object for the wealthy collector abroad. After years of experimenting with the composition of the material, colours and models, the Haagse Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg started the production of the so-called eggshell porcelain in 1899. Led by the new director, the Rotterdam-born architect Jurriaan Kok, the factory prepared in secret for the World's Fair in Paris in 1900. Here the porcelain, as thin and fragile as the shell of a chicken egg, stole the show. The eggshell porcelain was artistically a great success and instantly made the name Rozenburg world-famous.

The eggshell porcelain was immediately purchased by major European museums such as the Musée des Art Décoratifs in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Well-to-do private individuals from all over the world also bought the expensive porcelain at the 1900 exhibition, or in the newly opened Rozenburg store in Paris or at one of the depots of the many Rozenburg agents who imported the eggshell porcelain to cities like Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Pretoria, Batavia and New York. A large vase would cost 150 guilders (the monthly wage of the working man averaging around 40 guilders). The valuable eggshell porcelain still has a unique place in private and museum collections around the world. In the Netherlands eggshell porcelain of high quality is on display at the museums such as the Princessehof, the Rijksmuseum and the Kunstmuseum in Den Haag.

The secret of the technically advanced eggshell porcelain was the composition of the material and the firing method. The clay consisted of 19% Cornwall stone, 31,6% kaolin and 49,4% bone meal.The models designed by Kok had very thin walls and were therefore cast in one piece in a plaster mould. But the most important secret of Jurriaan Kok was the switch between biscuit temperature and smooth firing temperature. Due to the high temperature of the biscuit firing, the eggshell porcelain obtained a certain translucency, and smooth, non-porous skin on which decoration could be applied extremely finely. Flowers and animals, especially birds, were painted in bright colours in a stylised naturalistic style. The asymmetrical decoration kept an airy character due to open white parts, elegant lines and irregularly shaped fields, filled in with dots or hatchings. There is no suggestion of space through perspective. This style of decoration placed the eggshell porcelain within the pictorial movement of the Dutch Art Nouveau and showed clear influences of Japanese art.

The eggshell porcelain was executed in more than 300 models, with additional variations such as different handles, spouts and lid knobs. Round and angular, caved in and popped out shapes were combined playfully. For example, vases had egg-, banister- and drop shaped forms which extended into square or even octagonal forms. Sharp, angular ribs and handles not only served an aesthetic purpose, but also added support to the delicate porcelain. These imaginative models were conceived by Jurriaan Kok, but the decorations were designed by master painters such as Samuel Schellink, C.J.W 't Hart and J.W. van Rossum. The painters' signature referred to the designer of the décor, who drew it on the biscuit with pencil. The decoration was then carried out by a team of painters. The production of eggshell porcelain at Rozenburg was short-lived, the production methods expensive and increasingly uncommercial. Other Dutch factories with cheaper and less complicated lines of production took over, and the production of Rozenburg ceramics came to an end in 1914. The factory liquidated in 1917.