Potpourri Vase

A rare faience vase with cover. Pear shape body with short neck, round the sides are applied in high relief with branches, leaves, flowerheads and a bird. Domed lid similarly decorated with a knob in the form of a naked seated boy. Between the branches painted insects, butterflies and flowers; on the reverse large spray of flowers.

Stralsund pottery

A Pomeranian faience factory producing tin-glazed earthenware made at Strålsund, Sweden (now Stralsund, Germany), from around 1755 to 1792. The factory was founded by Johann Ulrich Giese and directed by Johann Eberhard Ludwig Ehrenreich (1722-1803). The latter had founded a faience factory at Marieberg in Sweden, and the products of Stralsund, large Rococo vases, tureens and other wares are similar to those of Marieberg. Potpourri vases, decorated with polychrome painted, naturalistic flowers molded and applied to the surface in high relief, are very typical. But it was partly destroyed by the explosion of a powder magazine in 1770. Although it was re-started by Giese in 1772 and survived until 1792, it produced little of interest during these later years.