Mirror

The ceramic frame of this mirror is modeled as aquatic plants, namely curving bulrush or cattail leaves glazed in shades of green and brown which are overlaid with water lily stems, buds, and flowers in purple, white, yellow, and blue glazes. At the front center, just below the mirror glass, is an oblong compartment with a removable lid. The lid itself is modeled as leaves radiating from a central water lily bud, which acts as its finial. The front of this compartment is framed in curving bulrush leaves and has at its center an open water lily flower seen from its side.

This mirror was likely manufactured by the B. Bloch company at its factory in Eichwald (today Dubí, Czech Republic), in the heart of what was the northern Bohemian ceramics-manufacturing region. The company’s namesake, Bernard (or Bernhard) Bloch was born in Metzling, Austria (today Meclov, Czech Republic) in 1836. He came from a German Jewish background and was educated in a Jewish religious school in his youth. He first worked in shipping in the Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) region of Bohemia, where the mining of clays and ceramic manufacturing were important industries. In 1871 Bloch had amassed enough capital to purchase the pottery in Hohenstein that had been founded by the Hufsky or Huffzký family in 1822. Over the next decades Bloch greatly expanded his company, taking control of two more factories in nearby Eichwald (today Dubí, Czech Republic). In 1889, Bloch purchased the Tschinkelsche Majolika-fabrik (Tschinkel Majolica Factory) in Eichwald, which had been founded in 1869. Bloch’s firm would manufacture majolica, like this mirror, as well as other earthenware products there, often marking them with the trademark “Eichwald”. In 1899, he also purchased the Meissner Ofen- und Porzellanfabrik (Meissen Stove and Porcelain Factory) in Eichwald, where the firm produced porcelain products.

By 1906, the highly successful firm, which operated its various divisions under the company name B. Bloch, employed approximately 750 workers at its factories and produced a wide variety of tableware and ornamental goods for the home in porcelain, stoneware, majolica and other earthenware bodies. B. Bloch exported its wares widely and had wholesale representation in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, and London. The firm regularly exhibited at regional and international exhibitions including the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, where it showed “a very decorative line of porcelain and also majolica jardinieres and specialties” according to one critic. Following Bernard Bloch’s death in 1909, management of the factories passed to his three sons, Oskar, Artur, and Otto Bloch, who operated them until around 1940 when the firm was seized as a Jewish-owned business during the Nazi occupation of what was then Czechoslovakia.

This mirror is a good example of the highly ornamental majolica wares B. Bloch produced at its Eichwald factory. A subset of Bloch’s majolica reflects the sinuous curves and motifs taken from plants and other aspects of the natural world that grew up in European art at the end of the 19th century, which we refer today as Art Nouveau. Eichwald was also unusual in that it often highlighted its majolica with gilded detailing over the deep, rich colored glazes that accentuate the forms. These rich glazes, gilded accents, and sinuous forms are all evident in this mirror.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Collection of Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, by 2022; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2024.