Doe and Hope

Description

The large and imposing pair of extraordinary Austrian pottery majolica ewers moulded with mythical creatures, mer-men and putti and having a dragon handles with flared necks in the grotesque manner, marked to the underside with impressed pad mark ‘WS & S’ and the shape number 6706.

The ewers are in good condition. There are no breakages, imperfections, cracks or repairs present aside from one section of repair to the lip of on one of the ewers, showing a hairline fracture.

The impress mark of WS&S is the one Wilhelm Schiller and Son used between the 1850 and 1914 period. Schiller & Sons was founded in Bodenbach, Bohemia in 1829, and produced excellent quality earthenware & porcelain until 1895, with its hallmark being spectacular boldly modeled Majolica pieces such as these, rivaling anything done by Wedgwood or Mintons in the Victorian era. The factory was closed in 1914 with the beginning of WWI as workers had to leave to join the armed forces.

Love it or loathe it this is simply wonderful majolica inspired by the romance of the mighty deep.