Villeroy & Boch Mettlach – Lidded Jar With Elephants, Attributed To Maria Kohler, Circa 1950

Polychrome glazed ceramic lidded pot made by the Villeroy & Boch factory in Mettlach, circa 1950.

With a slightly flared circular shape, it features a particularly original design of stylized elephants moving among vegetation rendered in a highly graphic style. The hand-painted design primarily combines shades of turquoise, blue, red, green, and brown on an ivory background.

The lid echoes this same color palette in a radiant composition, centered by a large spherical knob glazed in turquoise blue.

With its deliberately simplified, almost naive design, its very free pictorial style, and its vivid color palette, this piece is fully in line with the decorative experiments conducted by Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach in the 1950s.

On the base are the model number 4139, as well as the painted mark V+B / M, standing for Villeroy & Boch, Mettlach. An additional monogram, which can be read as KM, links this piece to the creations of Maria Kohler, a ceramic artist who worked for Villeroy & Boch during this period.

Attribution to Maria Kohler is suggested based on style, technique, production period, and markings; however, it cannot be considered definitively established in the absence of archival documentation specifically corresponding to model 4139.

In very good overall condition.

Villeroy & Boch, Mettlach, Germany
circa 1950–1960
Attributed to Maria Kohler

Shipping: 18 euros within France, 35 euros within the EU, and 100 euros to the rest of the world.