Max Läuger - Kandern Tonwerke Vase for La Maison Moderne (Paris)

Max Läuger stoneware vase by the workshop of J. Armbruster at Kandern Tonwerke (Karlsruhe, Ger.) for retail at La Maison Moderne (Paris, Fr.). The bulbous shape on this stoneware vase features trailed slip decorative organic design against a brown ground typical of Max Läuger’s preferred color palette. Marked “MLK”, “LMM”, & impressed Arms of the Grand Duchy of Baden, w/ “Gesetzl Geschzf”. Dimensions: 4.5" (W) x 8" (H).

An example of this particular Läuger vase design is pictured in Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration (Band III), Dec. 1898, pg. 101 (see picture #4 above).

Max Läuger (1864-1952), who initially studied painting at the Académie Julian in Paris, used the clay body of his earthenware and stoneware vessels as a substrate for vibrant colors. He is known for technically ingenious earthenware designs and color contrasts. Läuger’s ceramics were included in the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 and examples of his work are in the permanent collections of the NYC Met., Boston MFA, Victoria & Albert Mus. among others.

Julius Meier-Graefe's La Maison Moderne, opened in 1899, was a competitor of Bing's Maison de l'Art Nouveau.