Posted 15 years ago
kmgboston
(12 items)
We've had this odd black pot in the back of the cabinet and have no idea what it is. It has blank finish that is worn through in spots and the incised flower and lef decoration is beautifully painted. I got a good picture of the mark but I think its only partial mark.
Vase made by GERBING AND STEPHEN -- it is a Czech piece - here's a little company history followed by a link to a page that shows your vase's mark --
Wilhelm Schiller & Sons, Austria. Founded in 1829 by Gerbing and Schiller in Podmokly, Czechoslovakia. (Bodenbach, Bohemia, Austria) and used marks that had S&G or TETSCHEN (Czech in Czech). The factory split in 1885 (when Gerbing died), and the company was split into two factories Wm. Schiller & Son and Gerbing & Stephan. Schiller stayed with the factory naming it W Schiller & Sons, thus the WS&S mark. The other side of the split became Gerbing & Stephen and used G&S in some of their marks. The factory closed in 1914.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:B7zGb795LdgJ:www.collectorscircle.com/bohemian/porcelain/marks_table1.html+gerbing+stephen&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
This pot reminds me so much of austro's glass pot:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/55879-thomas-webb-and-sons-bronze-vase-1878
I have a pottery plaque with the same markings on the back (SW & S). It is of an Egyptian village scene in relief with Arabic lettering and Kairo on the back as well.. Did W. Schiller have a factory in Africa ?