Iris-Glaze Iris Vase
Artist
Albert Robert Valentien
(American, 1862-1925)
Manufacturer
Rookwood Pottery
(American)
CultureAmerican
Date1902
MediumGlazed ceramic pottery
DimensionsOverall: 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm)
InscribedIncised on bottom: Rookwood symbol for year 1902 / 922B / A. R. Valentien
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number94.18.3
Not on view
Label TextAlbert Robert Valentien
American, 1862–1925
Iris-Glaze Iris Vase, 1902
Glazed ceramic pottery by Rookwood Pottery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio
Chrysler Museum of Art, Museum purchase 94.18.3
Rookwood Pottery Company
American, founded in 1880
Rookwood Pottery was founded by Maria Longworth Nichols Storer (1849–1932), a talented society woman from Cincinnati, Ohio, who painted china as a hobby. Nichols created her own pottery company after seeing impressive European and Asian ceramics at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Many of the professional artists she hired were women, including Sara Sax, whose work appears elsewhere in this exhibition.
Recognized for its imaginative colors and glaze techniques, Rookwood’s most popular products feature floral designs, as seen in the smaller pieces here. Many later designs, such as the tall blue vase at center, used matte surfaces and enhanced the floral motifs with low relief, giving the design a hazy appearance much like an Impressionist painting.
Exhibition History"From Earth and Fire: Art Pottery and Art Glass from the Chrysler Museum of Art," The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia: Autumn 1997 through Summer 1999.
"Art Pottery from the Collection of The Chrysler Museum of Art," February 24, 1996 - May 25, 1997
"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997.
"The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 16 - September 6, 2015.
