Amphora Holland handpainted Gouda style vase
Beautiful medium sized handpainted Gouda style vase made around 1920 by the Amphora pottery in Oegstgeest, the Netherlands. The vase is painted in Dutch art nouveau Gouda style with a symmetric decor of stylised, organic shapes of leaves and flowers in orange, red, brown, green, blue and lilac colours. The colours are painted on top of each other, which creates a beautiful marbled effect. The vase has a matt glaze style, which means that the decorations were not painted underglaze (under a transparent glaze), but instead were painted on top of a background glaze (in this case a bright orange glaze) and fused with this glaze during a second firing. The inside of the vase is also fully glazed.
The vase is signed at the bottom with a handpainted "Amphora Holland" mark, a batch number (B857) and a model / decor number (M110a). Possibly the "a." is not part of the model number, but represents a small painters signature set close to the model number. There is also a letter "M" (or "W") inscribed in the clay.
Condition: the vase has a bit of wear to the rim of the vase, which is not very noticeable or disturbing (see pictures). Also there are two old restorations to the foot of the vase, which can be identified as the light blue areas (see pictures). We think these old restorations fit well to the general character of the vase and are not very disturbing. If necessary they can be improved upon. Aside from these defects the vase is in an excellent condition, without any cracks, hairlines or scratches to the glaze. The vase has a beautiful matte gloss and beautiful colours. A very light, even crazing can be noticed in the bright orange parts of the decoration (the unpainted parts where the background glaze is visible). This is normal for Gouda pieces of this age and in our opinion just adds character to the item.
A beautiful vase with a colour palette that is brighter than the average Gouda style vase. The orange, red and brown combination gives it a bit of a sixties / seventies feel, although this vase was produced much earlier. This vase will be a nice addition to any interior style, from classic to modern.
Made by: Tegel- en Fayencefabriek Amphora ("Amphora Holland")
Place of manufacture: Oegstgeest, the Netherlands
Year of manufacture: between 1908 and 1927, most likely around 1920
Method of decoration: handpainted (matt glaze)
Size: height: 22,7 cm, diameter: 15,9 cm (capacity 1,5 litre)
Weight: 840 g
Additional pictures of the object can be provided if required.
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About Amphora Holland:
Amphora was a pottery / ceramic factory located in the town of Oegstgeest near the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. The pottery was known for producing high quality earthenware and tile tableaus. It was founded in 1908 and employed various well-known ceramic designers. In the initial years it became most famous for the abstract designs of Chris van der Hoef, one of the Netherlands most well-known designers. In 1914 Amphora took over many models and personnel from the famous Rozenburg ceramic factory in the Hague, after that closed. Amphora continued to make high quality ceramics in the Rozenburg art-nouveau style and also in their own Gouda art pottery style. The Gouda style earthenware of Amphora distinguished itself by its free and organic style, with expressive flower and leaf motifs in nice, natural colours.
From 1927 onwards, following market demand, the factory stopped producing decorative earthenware and decided to focus on high quality tile tableaus. In 1933, during the Great Depression, the factory finally closed down.
A large collection of Amphora pottery can be found in the collection of Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden. Their Amphora collection can be accessed online here: https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/search/collection?maker=Tegel-+en+Faiencefabriek+Amphora
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This beautiful vase will be very securely packed and send by tracked and insured mail. If you buy multiple items from our shop, we will combine the shipping of these items. If the actual combined shipping costs are less than the shipping costs that you have already paid, we will refund the difference. So you will only pay the actual shipping costs.
If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you may contact us within 14 days from the delivery date to return the item. If the item is returned in its original condition, we will issue a full refund (return costs are however not covered).
Shipping from The Netherlands
Processing time
1-2 business days
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Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.
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I gladly accept returns
Just contact me within: 14 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 30 days of delivery
I don't accept exchanges or cancellations
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
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Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are your shipping times?
We will send off your order within one or two working days. We use the standard parcel service of PostNL to ship our parcels. You can find their estimated delivery times per country here (shortened link to pdf download of PostNL): https://bit.ly/3ZHTMJ9. In the fourth column (parcels) you can find the delivery times of the standard service (in estimated business / working days). Please keep in mind that customs / import procedures in non-EU countries can sometimes add an extra week (or even two weeks) to the delivery times.
On request we can also ship with UPS for a faster delivery: expedited (within 10 days) or express (within a few days). There are no customs delays when shipping with UPS. Contact us before the purchase to get a quote.
How do you pack your items, will my item arrive safely?
Broken ceramics is a thing we do not like! Not only is it a waste of time and money, but it also (often) means the end for a rare and unique item, which was treasured and cared for by their previous owners. So we really want to avoid any damages during shipping!
We have lots of experience of shipping ceramics, and we have seen what works and what does not work to protect ceramics during transit. If we ship multiple items in one package, each item is carefully wrapped and kept well seperated from the other items. We use large boxes, with plenty of buffer all around the items, so the packages can withstand a lot of abuse. All our packages should be able to cope with a 1,5 m drop without the items getting damaged.
Do you take care of the environment?
Yes we do. We re-use packaging materials as much as possible, which means we rarely need to buy new materials for our packaging. Only foam peanuts are sometimes bought by us, in which case we prefer to use green starch based peanuts which are fully biodegradable, non-toxic and water-soluble.
Each year, we calculate the greenhouse gas emissions in CO2-equivalents caused by our shipping. We multiply that amount by 200% and then offset it in certified CO2 compensation projects based on tree planting / reforestation in various parts of the world. So far, we have offset 35,5 tonnes of CO2 emissions in projects in Bolivia and Borneo (Indonesia). See https://treesforall.nl/en/projects/ for more information on the projects.
How should I take care of my Dutch ceramics?
First of all, don't let them fall! Always handle them in a mindful way and put them in spots where they cannot be accidentally bumped over when cleaning or vacuuming. Some people put some (clean) sand in vases to make them more stable.
Second, don't clean them too often! Underglaze painted Gouda and Delftware can be perfectly cleaned with water if necessary, but often just dusting them off or polishing them up a bit with a soft dry cloth is enough. Overglaze painted items should not be cleaned too often.
The colours of ceramics do not fade in sunlight, so you can put them in bright spots where they look good. But do avoid large temperature differences, which will cause increased crazing in many Delftware and also Gouda type pieces.