Permanent Collection Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2010.37 |
Collection |
Ceramics Collection |
Media Collection |
American Art Pottery Collection |
Manufacturer |
EPIAG Erste Bohmische Porzellan Industrie (1918-1945) |
Title |
Hand Decorated Vase Featuring Wisteria and Geisha |
Date |
Circa 1930 |
Artist |
Based on the illustration of Dorothea Warren O'Hara |
Decorator |
Mabel Darge (1888-1959) |
Signature |
Mabel Darge |
Signature Location |
bottom |
Makers Marks |
This vase bears the underglaze manufacturer's stamp "EPIG" / "ROYAL" / "Made in Czechoslovakia" and a die impressed number "3676" on the vessel's underside. |
Description |
This vase was hand painted by Mabel Darge (1888-1959). Referred to as an "amateur" porcelain painter, this artist was one of thousands of women across the United States beginning in the 1880s who were gripped by a "decorative mania" inspired by European decorative porcelain displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. China painting was a socially acceptable hobby or trade for women because it allowed them to create artistic objects for the home. According to one critic, the China painting fervor caused "the loveliest and purest maidens in the land to smell of turpentine." Purchasing porcelain blanks from companies including .............in Bavaria, women hand painted the white bisque surfaces before firing them in a kiln. Many of the pieces decorated their homes, were given as gifts, or were sold. These amateur porcelain painters influenced the next generation of women decorators who worked outside the home as professional pottery decorators in large pottery concerns including Weller Pottery Company or Roseville Pottery Company in Zanesville, Ohio. |
Medium |
porcelain |
Technique |
hand-decorated on porcelain |
Height (in) |
10.500 |
Diameter (in) |
3.500 |
Culture |
American |
School |
Art Deco/American China Painting |
Place of Origin |
United States |
Credit Line |
Purchase, Ayers Collection Fund |
People |
Darge, Mabel Purchase, Ayers Collection Fund |
Search Terms |
Amateur Women China Painters American Art Pottery American China Painting Art Deco Blue Cast EPIAG Erste Bohmische Porzellan Industrie (1918-1945) Female Artists Flowers Geishas Hand Decorated High Gloss Ohio Art Ohio Artists Porcelain Blanks Pottery Decorators Vases Vines Wisteria Yellow |
Location |
Not on view |