Boch Frères Keramis Luster Glaze Art Nouveau Iris Vase, circa 1890s

Description

Gorgeous Boch Frères Keramis Tall Luster Glaze Art Nouveau Iris Vase, circa 1890s with the appropriate BFK mark on the base. Produced in the early years of the company. Great condition with age-related crazing. Dimensions: 13.25″ tall. See companion squat vase HERE.

About Boch Frères Keramis. Boch Frères Keramis was a Belgian ceramic company known for their Cloisonné techniques and use of black outlined designs. The company’s name, “Keramis,” was derived from keramos, the ancient Greek word for pottery. Boch Frères Keramis was founded in 1841 by Eugene and Victor Boch and their brother-in-law, Jean-Baptiste Nothomb, in La Louviere, Belgium. This faience manufacture developed very fast (faience, a term referring to tin-glazed earthenware made in France from the late sixteenth century until the end of the eighteenth century, either thrown on a potter’s wheel and formed in a mold, or, less frequently, shaped by hand). In 1847 the company won a gold medal at the exhibition of the Belgian industry. In 1855 they already employeed 300 workers in La Louvière (Keramis) and 100 in Tournai (Boch Freres) factory. Around 1860 the production of polychrome (multi-colored) pieces began. In 1904 the first in Europe tunnel kiln was launched. Later in 1906, French ceramicist Charles Catteau joined the company as artistic director, a position he held for 42 years, bringing forth the company’s transition to Art Deco designs influenced by Japonisme, Cubism, and abstraction of nature. Boch Frères Keramis closed down in 1985, and though they were acquired by other companies afterward, they closed permanently in 2009.