Classic Danish Design: Saxbo, Jais Nielsen, Stoneware Plaque, Female Profile

Description: Classic Danish Design: Saxbo, Jais Nielsen, Low Stoneware Bowl, Turquoise Glaze The story of Saxbo pottery is, first and foremost, the story of Nathalie Krebs (1895-1978). Johanne Nathalie Krebs was born in Aarhus, Denmark to Major General Frederick Christian Krebs and Johanne Margrethe Busch. She grew up in a home with six children, where money was scarce, but where the children were allowed to pursue their own interests. Nathalie Krebs chose to pursue chemistry, which was an unusual career choice for a woman of that era. From an early age she showed an interest in colors. In 1913, at the age of 18, she went to Copenhagen to the Polytechnic College, from which she graduated in 1919 as a chemical engineer with color chemistry as a specialty. Upon graduation, she went to work at Bing & Grøndahl Porcelain Factory, where she worked in engineering and perfected her mastery of glazes on porcelain and stoneware. During her ten years at Bing & Grøndahl, she worked with a number of artists, including her work on matte porcelain with Jo (hanne) Hahn Locher, who was a painter and signing artist at Bing & Grøndahl from 1898 to 1940 and H.A.L. Mads Lund (1888-1947), who was a ceramicist at Bing & Grøndahl from 1916 to 1930. While at Bing and Grøndahl, Nathalie Krebs met Gunnar Nylund, who joined the factory in 1925. By this time, she wanted to work more with contemporary stoneware production, and since Bing & Grøndahl only fired stoneware three times a year, she and sculptor Gunnar Nylund decided to start their own workshop under the name Nylund & Krebs. In 1929, they rented premises from the renowned ceramist Patrick Nordström in Islev. Although Nathalie Krebs was a chemist, she thought as a potter and had a strong sense of color, texture and form. Her technical achievement as a chemist was that she managed to develop a series of glazes that could be repeated without excessive color differences, making them suitable for series production. She drew particular inspiration from nature and gave glazes names such as plovers' eggs, snake skin, field mice, hare fur, birch bark or eggshell. The distinctive, slightly streaked or speckled “Saxbo Glaze” with variations of brown, green, red and white shades have parallels in Chinese stoneware. Later she created a more rustic, Japanese-inspired production of more robust forms and coarser textures covered with transparent lightly colored glazes. She founded Saxbo on the premise that if chemical formulations could be replicated perfectly at every firing, exquisite art pottery could be made available commercially at affordable prices. She was proven correct. Gunnar Nylund, after Nathalie Krebs, was the individual most influential in first establishing the Saxbo style and reputation for quality. Nylund was born in Paris in 1904, where his Danish mother, the artist Fernanda Jacobsen-Nylund and his Finnish-Swedish father, the sculptor Felix Nylund, were studying. In 1907, the family moved to Copenhagen, moving later to Helsinki, where Nylund attended elementary school. When civil war broke out in Finland, he moved with his mother in 1918 to Denmark and continued his studies at boarding school. Following graduation in 1923 and completing an architecture internship and studies in ceramics in Helsinki, he started studying architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Charlotteborg, Copenhagen. He became practiced in sculpture by assisting his father Felix, who encouraged him in the study of animals. Nylund did some extra work at the Bing & Grøndahl Porcelain factory, designing new products for a Paris exhibition. He was then offered full-time employment by the company and as a result gave up his architecture studies. At Bing & Grøndahl, his mentor was Paul Gauguin’s son Jean. Nylund created a few thousand unique pieces at Bing & Grøndahl. In March 1929, what was to become Saxbo began life as Nylund & Krebs - using the names of the two founders. Following the departure of Gunnar Nylund, Nathalie Krebs adopted the name Saxbo for her workshop. Some claim that the collaboration with BO was reflected in the name Saxbo, but Nathalie Krebs rejected this notion, saying that the Saxbo name was chosen because it was easy to say in any language and not related to anything specific. Early pieces bearing the Saxbo name incorporated the kilnmark used by Nylund & Krebs. Beginning in 1937, Nathalie Krebs began using a shop mark based on the Zodiac sign Cancer (Krebsen), which reportedly alluded to her name and indicated her direct involvement in the workshop’s output, even though she was not directly involved in the stoneware production process. For the first year and a half after the departure of Gunnar Nylund, Saxbo functioned without an artistic director. During this time, Nathalie Krebs worked intensively to develop new glazes. For a period of one and a half years, beginning in 1932, Axel Salto worked at Saxbo on large vases and small openwork cylinder vases with trees and deer, inspiring Nathalie Krebs to create signature glazes such as “hare fur” and “bird feathers.” In June 1932, Nathalie Krebs took what was perhaps the most important decision in the history of Saxbo by hiring Eva Staehr-Nielsen (née Wilhjelm), a woman 15 years her junior and a recent graduate of the Kunsthåndværkerskolen, which produced other famous ceramicists of this generation, including Christian Poulsen, Gertrud Vasegaard, and Edith Sonne Bruun. Over its 40-year history, Nathalie Krebs was able to attract a series of very talented artists to fire their works at Saxbo using her glazes. The work of these artists, in addition to those artists and skilled crafts(wo)men directly employed by the workshop, constitute an important part of Saxbo’s legacy. Among these artists were a number of important sculptors and ceramicists, including Olaf Staehr Nielsen, Axel Salto, Jais Nielsen, Hugo Liisberg, Erik Rahr, and Jens Jacob Bregnø. Johannes Knud Ove Jais-Nielsen (1885–1961) was a Danish painter, designer and ceramist, best known for the religious figure groups that he designed for Royal Copenhagen. Nielsen was born in Copenhagen and was married to artist Ville Jais Nielsen (née Oppenheim), whose training included the Art School for Women (1905–07) and apprenticeships with the silversmith Georg Jensen and porcelain painting at Bing & Grøndahl. As a Jew, Ville Jais Nielsen had to leave Denmark for Sweden in the Second World War where she painted a large number of interiors and portraits of women (1943–1945). Jais Nielsen made several excursions to important art centers, travelling to Berlin (1909) and Paris (1911–1914). In 1920 he travelled to Italy, where he took a particular interest in Renaissance art. Nielsen's art was influenced by the Cubism that he encountered in Paris. His best know work, “The Potter,” was exhibited at the 1925 Paris exhibition and created quite a stir, capturing the Grand Prix. Primarily a sculptor, Nielsen worked for Royal Copenhagen between 1920 and 1928 and accepted freelance commissions until his death in 1961. Nielsen produced both studio and production pieces, frequently combining sculptural elements with ceramic throwing. While he worked for Royal Copenhagen through most of his career, he also produced objects briefly for Saxbo in the early 1930s and sporadically after that over his career. As well as statuettes, Nielsen produced ceramic wares in a wide range of shapes and monochrome glazes, including celadon, Sung, ironstone and oxblood. His production at Saxbo included pots and other stoneware decorated with figures, mainly in relief but also engraved or painted, generally representing Biblical subjects. This small plaque or low bowl is instantly recognizable as the work of Jais Nielsen. It was produced at the Saxbo workshop during the 1950s, prior to Nielsen's death in 1961, and carries the Saxbo shopmark used beginning in the early 1950s. This low plaque features a striking female face in profile and carries a beautiful soft brown Nathalie Krebs glaze. This plaque is well marked with the artist's distinctive signature. After the JAIS signature is one large dot, which probably is the thrower's mark of Børre Hansen, who worked at Saxbo from about 1948 until about 1954. That would date this piece to the 1951-54 period. The dimensions of this low bowl are roughly 0.5 inch high and 3.25 inches across. Please see photos for further details on condition. All shipping is by USPS insured Priority mail, and great care will be taken with packing this valuable piece. A flat rate shipping charge of $20 applies to this listing. Flat shipping rate applies only to U.S. buyers. International buyers will pay higher actual shipping costs and should inquire prior to bidding. About the seller: I have been collecting art pottery for more than 30 years. The bulk of my collection is Danish stoneware from the 1920s into the 1970s. The bulk of my Danish collection consists of Arne Bang, Saxbo, Jais Nielsen, Nils Thorsson, Erik Hjorth, and Ejvind Nielsen. I have done extensive research on these and other artists and workshops and would be happy to share that with interested buyers. I also have substantial collections of American, French, Belgian and other 20th century northern European art pottery. Over the coming months I will be listing a wide range of pieces from my collection. Please check out my other listings and add me to your list of saved sellers to receive notification of new listings.

Price: 200 USD

Location: Fort Collins, Colorado

End Time: 2025-02-03T22:31:34.000Z

Shipping Cost: 20 USD