Object Details
- Description
- Before becoming an international phenomenon, the Arts and Crafts movement began with the ideas of British artisan William Morris (1834-1896) and writer John Ruskin (1819-1900). Morris and Ruskin believed that the growth of cities isolated urban workers and that mass production negatively affected artisan crafts. They proposed to solve these issues by returning to a medieval-inspired village model where everybody participated in a community lifestyle. In the United States, artisans adapted these ideas into the studio art pottery movement. Unlike their British counterparts, who often focused predominantly on social issues and therefore made objects that incorporated Gothic and Renaissance motifs, American craftsmen developed a cohesive and novel aesthetic.
- Artus Van Briggle joined the Rookwood Pottery in 1887. He was so well-regarded by his employers that the company sent him to Europe to study pottery in 1893. There, like his patroness Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, Van Briggle encountered and became inspired by Chinese and Japanese ceramics. When tuberculosis forced Van Briggle to relocate to Colorado Springs in 1899, he formed his own eponymous pottery. Working with native Colorado clay, Van Briggle developed a matte glaze in a variety of tones that reflected his interest in Eastern ceramic wares.
- Like its Grueby contemporaries, Van Briggle wares often combine stylized plant motifs with a smooth matte glaze in muted tones. This mint green vase with relief long-stemmed leaves exemplifies the iconic color and styling used by the pottery. In this example, the decorator first carved a thrown earthenware vase with the leaf motif, and later submerged the entire vessel in a prepared vat of glaze to achieve the thick, even coating typical of the ware. Van Briggle glazes feature an array of varied tones that include a tobacco yellow, a deep terra cotta red, and a myriad of greens and blues.
- Artus Van Briggle joined the Rookwood Pottery in 1887. He was so well-regarded by his employers that the company sent him to Europe to study pottery in 1893. There, like his patroness Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, Van Briggle encountered and became inspired by Chinese and Japanese ceramics. When tuberculosis forced Van Briggle to relocate to Colorado Springs in 1899, he formed his own eponymous pottery. Working with native Colorado clay, Van Briggle developed a matte glaze in a variety of tones that reflected his interest in Eastern ceramic wares.
- Like its Grueby contemporaries, Van Briggle wares often combine stylized plant motifs with a smooth matte glaze in muted tones. This mint green vase with relief long-stemmed leaves exemplifies the iconic color and styling used by the pottery. In this example, the decorator first carved a thrown earthenware vase with the leaf motif, and later submerged the entire vessel in a prepared vat of glaze to achieve the thick, even coating typical of the ware. Van Briggle glazes feature an array of varied tones that include a tobacco yellow, a deep terra cotta red, and a myriad of greens and blues.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- The Van Briggle Pottery Co.
- 1905
- ID Number
- CE.237970
- catalog number
- 237970
- accession number
- 45703
- Object Name
- Vase
- Physical Description
- monochrome, blue (overall surface decoration color name)
- ceramic (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 7 1/4 in x 4 1/8 in; 18.415 cm x 10.4775 cm
- place made
- United States: Colorado, Colorado Springs
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
- Art
- Domestic Furnishings
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_575842
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a3-da83-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
