Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958)
Vase, 1897
Stoneware

H: 19.2 cm

Inventory number MK 56

During the period 1895 to 1898, J.F. Willumsen created a large number of vases with very different glazes, including this bottle-shaped vase whose glaze has been augmented with copper shavings. Exactly how this glaze would look after firing was undoubtedly highly unpredictable. As it turned out, Willumsen achieved a striking surface speckled in turquoise and black, with a vibrant, organic overall feel.

Willumsen let a professional thrower make the vases, as it was the glazes that particularly interested him, urging him to experiment.¹ His recipe book testifies to this desire. Over the years, Willumsen made detailed notes on different materials, glazes, firing processes and the final results. Perhaps this was why it was important for him to have the firing take place at his home in Hellerup, where most of his ceramic vases were fired.

Published in

J.F. Willumsen. Tegninger og Keramik, Kunstforeningen, København 1950, cat. 73;
Leila Krogh (ed.): Willumsens keramiske værker 1891-1900, J.F. Willumsens Museum, Frederikssund 1986, cat. 48, p. 80 samt pl. 19, p. 50;
Leila Krogh in Kjeld von Folsach and Nana Lund (eds.): Dansk kunst i Davids Samling – fra Philipsen til Saxbo, København 1995, cat. 16, pp. 74-75;
Mirjam Gelfer-Jørgensen: Kunstarternes forbrødring. Skønvirke – en kalejdoskopisk periode, København 2020, fig. 204, p. 300, 302 (NB mistake in catalog – not deposited in Designmuseet);
Henrik Wivel: Jeg er en anden: en biografi om J.F. Willumsen, København 2024, Bd. 1, 1863-1914, fig. 97, p. 150;