Eva Stæhr-Nielsen (1911–1976)
Jar, 1950-1968 
Stoneware, Saxbo 

During the period 1932 to 1951, Eva Stæhr-Nielsen was the only permanently attached designer at Saxbo Pottery. Other ceramic artists, such as Axel Salto, Jais Nielsen and Hugo Liisberg, only visited the pottery intermittently to have their work fired and glazed there.[1] But in the early 1950s, significant developments took place at Saxbo. The workshop began to collaborate with a range of potters whose designs were incorporated into Saxbo’s catalogue of objects. In addition, Saxbo also now worked with other materials and new glazes and began to produce more rustic and robust shapes than previously seen. There was talk of a new ‘Saxbo style’. This made it possible for the in-house production set-up, which until now had focused on the production of series, to start developing unique pieces.

This large jar is typical of the unique works that Eva Stæhr-Nielsen produced for Saxbo in the 1950s. Compared to her early works in the ‘classic’, smooth and organic idiom (MK 31), Eva Stæhr-Nielsen has here focused on designing a jar out of rough clay. Its incised line ornamentation has been simplified to a comma-like ornament called a peacock eye pattern. The glaze used goes by the name Blåræv, and it was one of the glazes developed by Nathalie Krebs in the years 1931 to 1932, when Axel Salto worked at Saxbo.[2]