Axel Salto (1889-1961)
Vase, 1945
Stoneware, Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory
H: 24 cm
Inventory number MK 73
This long-necked vase, its round body modelled with prominent fluting, was made in 1945. It is glazed with a black Olivin glaze, one of the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory’s popular stoneware glazes.
To most observers, the black Olivin glaze seems a good fit for Salto’s stoneware in the ‘fluted style’, as it is well suited to highlighting an object’s modelling of its gradations of colour like in this case, where the raised ridges on the body of the vase are lighter than the surface of the vase’s smooth, undecorated neck. Nevertheless, Salto believed that the black Olivin glaze was unsuitable for his distinctive idiom and forceful shapes, but he did allow the glaze to be used for certain works – especially when a customer specifically commissioned this.1 Whether C.L. David ordered this vase to be made with a black Olivin glaze is unknown, but he was certainly interested in Salto’s ceramic life and work.
The David Collection owns a total of eight works of stoneware by Salto, spanning his entire oeuvre in the medium: from 1929 (MK 10) to 1958 (MK 92). What is more, David was deeply involved in the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory where he a member of the board of directors from 1935 until his death in 1960.
To most observers, the black Olivin glaze seems a good fit for Salto’s stoneware in the ‘fluted style’, as it is well suited to highlighting an object’s modelling of its gradations of colour like in this case, where the raised ridges on the body of the vase are lighter than the surface of the vase’s smooth, undecorated neck. Nevertheless, Salto believed that the black Olivin glaze was unsuitable for his distinctive idiom and forceful shapes, but he did allow the glaze to be used for certain works – especially when a customer specifically commissioned this.1 Whether C.L. David ordered this vase to be made with a black Olivin glaze is unknown, but he was certainly interested in Salto’s ceramic life and work.
The David Collection owns a total of eight works of stoneware by Salto, spanning his entire oeuvre in the medium: from 1929 (MK 10) to 1958 (MK 92). What is more, David was deeply involved in the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory where he a member of the board of directors from 1935 until his death in 1960.
Published in
Published in
Susanne Bruhn and Pia Wirnfeldt (eds.): Axel Salto - stentøjsmesteren, CLAY Keramikmuseum, Middelfart 2017, model catalog no. 237, p. 178;
Footnotes
Footnotes
1.
Leif Lautrup Larsen: Stentøj – Den kongelige Porcelainsfabrik, Copenhagen 2007, pp. 387–388.
