Amphora Alfred Stellmacher was founder of "The House of Amphora". His porcelain factory, founded in 1876 was highly acclaimed for artistic merit and an early patron was the German Emperor Wilhelm l. Stellmacher received the gold medal at the 1889 Paris World Exposition. Alfred Stellmacher's son Eduard along with the Riessner brothers and Rudolf Kessel started the Amphora Company. Alfred Stellmacher Company is one of the five companies considered part of The House of Amphora. Eduard Stellmacher and his brothers in law Hans and Karl Riessner and Rudolf Kessel founded RSTK Amphora in 1892. The company represented the pinnacle of Art Nouveau and won several gold medals. Dachsel's forms led the way to the Art Nouveau style of Amphora and he also pioneered the modernist styles he continued in hid own company. Eduard Stellmacher and Co, Paul Dachsel and Ernst Wahliss and Co. are considered under the same heading as Amphora. The firm was officially renamed Riessner & Kessel Amphora after Eduard Stellmacher resigned in 1904 to start his own company that closed in 1910. The firm was officially renamed Riessner & Kessel Amphora after Eduard Stellmacher resigned in 1904. Paul Dachsel left Amphora in 1903 to start his own short-lived company and also worked with Ernest Wahliss and Co.
	Spiders and Webs Spiders and webs began appearing as a motif as Japanese influenced decorative arts became important in the second half of the 19th century. They reached a peak as a graceful motif in Art Nouveau ceramics and a geometric design in Arts and Crafts pottery and arts. Webs with their delicate symmetry and spiders with their aura of mystery and danger symbolized the beauty of the commonplace in the naturalistic arts of the period.
	Scarab Beetles The Scarab Beetles are probably the most exalted of all the insects. The ancient Egyptians saw the universe in miniature in the life cycle of this insect. Scarabs were venerated for three thousand years in Egypt as the symbol of rebirth and everlasting life. At the height of the ancient Egyptian civilization their cultural influence and beliefs spread throughout the Mediterranean and Near East. As a result Romans and early Christians revered the beetle. In Germany scarab worship in the form of the stag beetle as a symbol of immortality has been documented since the 16th century. German artist, Albrecht Durer, associated the stag beetle with Christ in various paintings, and produced a famous watercolor of the insect. In the 19th century the arrival of Egyptomania revived the popularity of the scarab beetle and during the Victorian era, when nature was the muse of many artisans in the Western world, the scarab became a widely admired icon again. Scarabs were used as ornamentation in Art Nouveau jewelry and porcelain and stylized versions were often seen in Art Deco design after the discovery of the tomb of King Tut in 1923.
	Art Nouveau and Nature Art Nouveau is French for new art, a late 19th century movement following The Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts and the rejection of mass production and industrialization. Art Nouveau moved towards both modernizing and mythologizing the relationship of humanity and nature. Strongly influenced by the Japanese art that was introduced after trade was opened with Japan in the 1850's, Art Nouveau rejected allover patterns and historical revivalism from the past in favor of a romantic interpretation of the natural world. The use of nature in Art Nouveau decorative arts and architecture was prevalent along with flowing lines and motifs. Animals, plants, shells, fish and romanticized female figures were used in the decoration of Art Nouveau. Nature influenced the famous abstract curves present in Art Nouveau design. Art Nouveau flourished between 1895 and 1905. The Paris Great Exhibition of 1900 marked the movement's peak. Probably the most famous and renowned of the Art Nouveau potteries was the Austrian company Amphora. When originally incorporated as Riessner, Stellmacher and Kessel, Amphora worked in the Orientalist and Neo-Baroque styles of the time. But as the end of the 19th century approached the designers Eduard Stellmacher and Paul Dachsel brought Amphora to the pinnacle of Art Nouveau with three-dimensional lizards, birds and animals perched on organic shaped vases covered in iridescent glazes.
	Peacocks in Decorative Arts The peacock has been used as a symbol in many cultures throughout the world. Known as the bird with one hundred eyes from Greek and Roman mythology it was also sacred in China and India. To European early cultures the peacock symbolized immortality was often carved in medieval stonework. Revived in the 19th century as an Art Nouveau motif uniting Asian art and 19th century romanticism, the peacock is one of the most prevalent Art Nouveau patterns. Louis Comfort Tiffany's famous peacock feather glass and Whistler's Peacock Room painted with gilt peacocks 1876-77 epitomized its beauty.
	Japonisme One of the most important artistic influences of the 19th century was Japonisme. When international trade was established with Japan in 1854 the impact on the West was enormous. Japanese goods were represented in influential international expositions such as London in 1862, Paris in 1867, Vienna in 1873 and a huge exhibit of Japanese arts in Paris in 1883. The eastern aesthetic immediately influenced western decorative arts. The natural and freer flowing designs in Japanese arts were strongly in opposition to the ordered design patterns that had been prevalent in the 18th and early 19th century Western ceramics. The constraints of symmetry were abandoned in favor of the more spontaneous and seemingly random designs found in nature. The simplicity, tranquility and asymmetrical composition seen in Japanese prints were adopted by western ceramists and challenged traditional concepts. The Japanese stylized version of nature strongly influenced many of the styles that became popular, the Aesthetic Movement, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts.
	Arts and Crafts Arts and crafts reflected a new simplicity of design that anticipated the modern secessionist styles that followed art nouveau. Clarity and purity of form was the new aesthetic. Craftsmanship was emphasized. Simplified natural images and stylized Japoniste motifs like irises and dragonflies were used often on monochromatic art pottery. Arts and Crafts led the way to the clean modern perspective of the later 20th century.
	Aesthetic Movement Art for the sake of art was the movement's mantra. Japanese imagery, coloring and restraint of decoration marked the Aesthetic Movement's trend away from the over embellishment of Victorian decoration. Patterned motifs were more asymmetrical and used Japanese style plant motifs. Incised and relief designs or almost three dimensional thick gilding or painting reflected the movement's emphasis on hand crafted and high quality goods. Asian motifs like fans and faux bamboo were popular in the ceramics and majolica wares of the time.
	Portuguese Palissy Ware Portuguese Palissy ware was a movement confined to the brief period from the mid 19th century to the early 20th century in Caldas Da Rainha. The unique stye shows the influences of the exotic naive themes and sculptural foliage motifs from India in Portugal after Vasco Da Gama's exploration and also the untamed natural world of the Portuguese colony of Brazil's rain forests. Portuguese Palissy ware subject matter was generally the struggle for survival in the natural world. Creatures from the water and insects from the air and ground are shown in earthy habitats. The sculpted figures are executed in a somewhat rustic manner and applied to a mossy or watery ground. Creatures that swim, crawl or slither are shown in motion with a violent naturalistic perspective. The nineteenth-century revival of the art of 16th century ceramist Bernard Palissy began in France and shortly after in Portugal. While 19th century French Palissy ware generally depicts detailed and serene scenes of pond life Portuguese Palissy ware shows more violent natural struggles executed as though in motion. The Portuguese movement began in 1853 in the town of Caldas da Rainha north of Lisbon, when ceramist Manuel Cipriano Gomes Mafra began producing ceramics in the style of Bernard Palissy. The Portuguese movement lasted until1920 with five major ceramists working in Caldas Da Rainha. Manuel Gomes Mafra (1830-1905) Manual Mafra was the first Portuguese ceramist working in the style of Palissy but the Palissy theme of life in a tranquil pond became depicted as a fierce struggle for survival between snakes, lizards, frogs and insects. The theme was used by nearly all 19th century Caldas ceramists who also used Mafra's technique of applying his creatures on a bed of "musgo" or moss and his high glazed and slightly iridescent mottled backgrounds of brown, or brown and green. King Fernando II commissioned works for the royal collection and named the Mafra factory "Royal Supplier to the King" authorizing use of the crown as part of the Mafra mark. Jose Alves Cunha (fl. 1860-ca. 1885) Jose Alves Cunha was a prolific Palissy ware ceramist second only to the Mafra factory. Cunha is known for his version of the famous cabbage-leaf tea service with snake handles which can be seen in the Ceramics Museum in Caldas Da Rainha. Jose Francisco de Sousa (fl. 1860-ca. 1893) Jose Francisco de Sousa used the mark "JFS" in fancy script inside an oval to mark his inventive and artistic Palissy wares that employed a broad palette of colors and innovative designs. Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846-1905) is the most famous Portuguese ceramist and believed to be the only ceramist worldwide to have a museum devoted to only his works. Pinheiro's Palissy ware does not follow the more typical Portuguese model of figures on musgo but has highly detailed figures artistically placed on beautiful mottled or iridescent plates and vases. Pinheiro received a medal in the 1889 Paris Exposition and several others in international expositions.
	French Palissy Ware 19th Century French Palissy Ware The nineteenth-century revival of the art of 16th century ceramist Bernard Palissy began in France and shortly after in Portugal. French Palissy generally depicts detailed and serene scenes of pond life while Portuguese Palissy ware shows more violent natural struggles. The School of Tours Tours was the home of the ceramic artist in Charles-Jean Avisseau (1795-1861) who first rediscovered Bernard Palissy's naturalistic works and lead glazed enamels and he is credited for the fifty year revival of rustic Palissy ware. Following Avisseau in The School of Tours were his son and grandson, Edouard Avisseau and Edouard-Leon Deschamps-Avisseau; his brother-in-law, Joseph Landais, and his son and grandson, Charles-Joseph Landais and Alexandre-Joseph Landais; Leon Barad; and, Auguste Chauvigne The School of Paris Victor Barbizet established a ceramics workshop and factory in Paris in 1851 and is credited with founding The School of Paris. Followers such as Thomas-Victor Sergent (fl.c.1870-1880), Georges Pull, and Francois Maurice (fl.c.1875-1885) worked in a slightly less embellished and rustic style than Avisseau and the Tours ceramists often using cobalt grounds and some formal and mythological elements.
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Terra Mare Links	The House of Amphora by Richard Scott Definitive book on Amphora Majolica International Society Society for all aspects of majolica for both collectors and dealers. Palissy Ware Review of book by leading expert on French and Portuguese Palissy ware.