Vilmos Zsolnay, Vase, 1899

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Until the later part of the nineteenth century, the focus of pottery decoration had been on narrative scenes painted on the vase, less on the shape of the pot or its glaze. But art nouveau ceramics shifted the emphasis: some studio potters carved or sculpted the clay of their vases, others relied on the decorative effect of the glaze alone. The Zlosnay factory at Pecs, in southern Hungary, became well known for its brightly colored lusterware glazes, including the Eosin glaze on this vase.

Luster glazes had first been perfected by Islamic potters during the ninth century. Their metallic sheen, and the legendary difficulty in achieving it, exercised great mystique. Although they had been reproduced in Renaissance Italy and Moorish Spain, as late as 1892 an English ceramist could still recall the glazes "as a sort of potters' philosopher's stone." Their mysterious and mutable effects appealed to art nouveau tastes.

For Vilmos Zsolnay, who had studied Islamic art and ceramics in London at the South Kensington Museum (which would become the Victoria and Albert), adoption of luster glazes entailed a degree of nationalism as well. In the nineteenth century it was still widely believed that the Magyars of Hungary shared a common origin with the Turks and nomadic peoples of the Asian steppes.

On this vase, the glaze's flowing and changeable colors are well matched to its fluid form. The sinuous forms of the tulips are in keeping with native Hungarian tastes. Plants and bees, and especially tulips, were common in Hungarian folk decoration.

Learning Activities

Art

• Make a portfolio of lustered ceramics.

• Make a pot that incorporates a national symbol of your country.

Humanities

• Learn more about the Magyars of Hungary.

A New Ceramic Art When Paul Gauguin started making pottery in 1886, no one had ever made pots like his before. Gauguin took over production of the entire piece, using "intelligent hands which powerfully communicate to the vase the life of a figure." Magical effects came from the fire of the kiln. The colors that emerged from a single grand feu firing had, he believed, a natural harmony. Accidental effects produced in the firing process itself, mottled color, blistered surface, splotches and nuances, lent complexity and individuality.

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