AN ENIGMA VASE FROM ROYAL BONN

I absolutely love this piece.  It is my favourite.  

It is impressed with the Franz Anton Mehlem stamp on the base which appears to indicate 1890 to 1920.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

However, what puzzles me is the hand painted design.

Never have I seen such a bizarre abstract pattern on anything emanating from Royal Bonn.  Usually their "art nouveau" designs are much more formal and pretty boring.  

It is totally out of character with anything else that I have seen from Royal Bonn.

Would like to hear from anybody that has seen a design that is



even remotely similar.

I don't know anything about the pottery but the decoration looks very much like that of the Japanese inspired Aesthetic Movement that began in the 1860s and continued until around 1900. Therefore the decoration fits in with the date of the pottery mark.

Hi Studio-pots,

Until you informed me and, until I subsequently researched online, I was not aware of the huge impact of Japanese design on European art (including ceramic decoration patterns) in the late 19th century.

Thanks, I have learnt something valuable today.

I think you are dead right in assuming a Japanese design influence on the style of decoration of the Royal Bonn vase.

I also believe that it is unlikely that such an unusual hand-painted decoration/design would have been a one-off by the artist. So I shall still keep trolling the internet in the hope of finding something similar.

Once again. Thanks for the kind assistance.