Josef Kuba - Vase - Porcelain

A vase that presents itself as a large urn or bombé porcelain vase, characterized by a very capacious and rounded belly that tapers toward a stable circular base. The shoulder is soft and flows into a short neck that ends with a flared mouth with a gilded edge. The overall style recalls European production from the late 19th or early 20th century (e.g., Neoclassical style, historicism, or Viennese/German porcelain molds). The vase is horizontally divided into three main bands: The neck is in a light/white tone. Along the shoulder runs a band of an intense emerald green or imperial green, decorated at the upper edge with stylized foliate motifs in fool’s gold (gold leaf) and bounded below by a thin gilded lip. The central band has a wide white background serving as a backdrop to a polychrome figurative scene painted with great detail and soft shading that recall academic painting. The scene’s background shows a light hint of mountains and a sky graduated in tones of pink and blue. The lower half of the vase repeats the dark emerald green color, enriched in the upper part by a rich and intricate gold lacing worked in fretwork, with geometric, floral, and hanging motifs (garlands and festoons). The painted scene depicts a Dionysian triumph (or bacchanal), a classical theme of Greek and Roman mythology linked to the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus), god of wine, revelry, and excess. From left to right, several characters typical of this procession (the thiasos) can be distinguished: Silenus and the Maenad on a donkey: a female figure (perhaps a maenad or bacchante) crowned with branches is seated on the back of a donkey covered with a leopard skin. The woman holds a wine amphora (oinochoe). The animal is led by an old bearded man, probably identifiable as Silenus, the wise but often tipsy guardian of Dionysus. In the center, two male figures advance merrily: one plays a long curved horn made of brass, while the other, semi-naked with a skin tied around the waist and a crown of ivy or grape on the head, dances while holding plates or small cymbals. On the right, a female figure dances while waving a tambourine (tympanum). Next to her are two small satyrs (or fauns), mythological creatures with goat-like legs: one is a standing faun youth, the other a small satyr lying on the ground on his back in a playful pose. The work stands out for its high level of execution, evident in the anatomical rendering of the bodies, the fluid drapery of the garments, and the precision of the shiny gilding that contrasts starkly with the dark green background. The whole evokes a sense of movement, festivity, and classical elegance. At the base’s background there is the mark with the green and gold oval shield, the five-point crown, and the letters “J.K.” (sometimes shown as J.K.W. or J.W.K.) belonging to the famous manufactory and decoration workshop of Josef Kuba (Josef Kuba Porzellanmalerei / Werkstätte). Kuba was renowned for decorating high-quality porcelains in the “Vienna style” (Alt Wien), often characterized by intensely colored backgrounds (such as emerald green, cobalt blue, or burgundy), rich gilding in fool’s gold, and gallant or mythological scenes printed or painted at the center (inspired by Jean-Honoré Fragonard paintings). The inscription “CARLSBAD” (Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic) indicates the city of origin where the operation was founded and active in the early part of its history. At the time the territory was part of Bohemia/Czechoslovakia (with strong German influence and population). Note on the manufacture: Josef Kuba often bought raw porcelain (“in the white”) from major Bavarian producers (like Hutschenreuther or Rosenthal) or Bohemian producers, then decorated it finely in his own workshop. For this reason, on many pieces from this maker one can find both the printed mark of the raw base porcelain and the Kuba decoration stamp. This specific circular/oval green and gold mark with the inscription “J.K. DECOR CARLSBAD” dates to the period between 1930 and 1945. The enterprise began in Carlsbad in 1930. At the end of World War II (in 1945), following the expulsion of German populations from Czechoslovak territories, Josef Kuba had to move his workshop to Germany, in Wiesau (in Bavaria). The marks post-1945/1947, while sometimes retaining the historical reference to Carlsbad, almost always incorporate the words “Bavaria,” “Germany,” or “Western Germany.” The absence of indications related to Germany and the presence of Carlsbad alone thus place the object in the early production era of the manufactory, roughly in the 1930s or the very early 1940s (Bohemia/Czechoslovakia). Dimensions: height 28.5 x diameter 24.5 cm.