Elsterweda - Vase (2) - Ceramic - ''Spritzdecor'' vases
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Selected by Michel Karis
Art historian with extensive experience working at various auction houses in antiques.
Estimate € 230 - € 280
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Pair of Art Deco Spritzdekor ceramic vases from Elsterwerda, Germany, model U.738, attributed to Ursula Fesca, circa 1928–1930, in good condition with minor chips and dimensions of 10 cm wide, 19 cm high, 10 cm deep (two objects).
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Description from the seller
Pair of German Spritzdekor Vases Attributed to Ursula Fesca for Elsterwerda, Model U.738, circa 1928-1933
A rare and visually arresting pair of avant-garde German Spritzdekor vases by Steingutfabrik Elsterwerda, marked to the base Elsterwerda U.738, and possibly designed by Ursula Fesca, who worked at the factory between 1928 and 1931. Founded in 1900, Elsterwerda was a comparatively small but highly progressive ceramics factory, and during the Art Deco years it employed several notable designers and sculptors, among them Ursula Fesca, Siegfried Möller, Grete Gottschalk and Franz Eggert.
The shape is elegant and restrained, but the decoration is unmistakably of its time: airbrushed fields of smoky black and warm beige and orange, punctuated by circles, bars and geometric accents The design language is drawn from the great abstract currents of the interwar period, from Cubism and Constructivism to the Bauhaus and the broader machine-age fascination with fractured form, light, shadow and geometry. Spritzdekor translated that avant-garde vocabulary into ceramics for everyday life.
These vases carry more than visual appeal. By the mid 1930s, this kind of abstract decoration came under attack in Germany as politically suspect and insufficiently traditional. Modernist ceramics of this type were pushed aside, and many examples did not survive. That makes a marked pair such as this especially compelling: they are not only vivid avant-garde objects, but survivors of the time.
A further layer of intrigue lies in the factory itself. After the end of the Second World War, machinery and kilns were partly dismantled and sent to the Soviet Union as reparations (payment), and the company archive was lost, likely destroyede. That loss helps explain why precise model-by-model documentation is often elusive today.
A strong and historically charged pair.
Condition
Excellent condition with pnly one minimal chip to one of the bases (see last photo). Marked under the base: Elsterwerda U.738.
Pair of German Spritzdekor Vases Attributed to Ursula Fesca for Elsterwerda, Model U.738, circa 1928-1933
A rare and visually arresting pair of avant-garde German Spritzdekor vases by Steingutfabrik Elsterwerda, marked to the base Elsterwerda U.738, and possibly designed by Ursula Fesca, who worked at the factory between 1928 and 1931. Founded in 1900, Elsterwerda was a comparatively small but highly progressive ceramics factory, and during the Art Deco years it employed several notable designers and sculptors, among them Ursula Fesca, Siegfried Möller, Grete Gottschalk and Franz Eggert.
The shape is elegant and restrained, but the decoration is unmistakably of its time: airbrushed fields of smoky black and warm beige and orange, punctuated by circles, bars and geometric accents The design language is drawn from the great abstract currents of the interwar period, from Cubism and Constructivism to the Bauhaus and the broader machine-age fascination with fractured form, light, shadow and geometry. Spritzdekor translated that avant-garde vocabulary into ceramics for everyday life.
These vases carry more than visual appeal. By the mid 1930s, this kind of abstract decoration came under attack in Germany as politically suspect and insufficiently traditional. Modernist ceramics of this type were pushed aside, and many examples did not survive. That makes a marked pair such as this especially compelling: they are not only vivid avant-garde objects, but survivors of the time.
A further layer of intrigue lies in the factory itself. After the end of the Second World War, machinery and kilns were partly dismantled and sent to the Soviet Union as reparations (payment), and the company archive was lost, likely destroyede. That loss helps explain why precise model-by-model documentation is often elusive today.
A strong and historically charged pair.
Condition
Excellent condition with pnly one minimal chip to one of the bases (see last photo). Marked under the base: Elsterwerda U.738.
Details
Era
1900-2000
Weight
700 g
Specific region of origin
Elsterwerda
Title additional information
''Spritzdecor'' vases
Number of objects
2
Country of origin
Germany
Material
Ceramic
Style
Art Deco
Manufacturer/brand
Elsterweda
Colour
Multicolour
Condition
Good condition - used with small signs of aging & blemishes
Height
19 cm
Width
10 cm
Depth
10 cm
Diameter
10 cm
Estimated period
1920-1930
