MEDIA INFORMATION

 
 
 
COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MMA_.1995.440a-c
AMICA Library Year:
2000
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Name:
Zeisel, Eva
Creator Name:
Schramberg Majolica Factory
Creator Nationality:
North American; American
Creator Role:
Designer
Creator Role:
Manufacturer
Creator Dates/Places:
American, born 1906
Creator Name-CRT:
Eva Zeisel
Creator Name-CRT:
Manufacturer:Schramberg Majolica Factory
Title:
Inkwell
Title Type:
Object name
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1929-30
Creation Start Date:
1929
Creation End Date:
1930
Materials and Techniques:
Glazed earthenware
Classification Term:
Ceramics-Pottery
Dimensions:
H. 3-3/8, W. 9, D. 9-3/8 in. (8.6 x 22.9 x 23.8 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
1995.440a-c
Credit Line:
Gift of the artist, 1995
Rights:
Context:

In 1928 the Hungarian-born Eva Zeisel began working as a ceramic designer at the Schramberg Majolica Factory in Schramberg, Germany. She had previously worked in Hamburg, where the International Style architecture of many new buildings had a strong influence on her work. While in Hamburg, she became aware of the design principles of the Deutsche Werkbund and the Bauhaus, which emphasized stylistic purity and insisted that form be derived from function. The whimsical folk-art style that had characterized much of her early work was replaced in the late 1920s by a severe architectonic geometry.

Zeisels's glazed-earthenware inkwell, designed while she was at Schramberg, consists of two units: a combined ink pot-pen tray and a pencil tray. The composition resembles a tiny architectural model. The vibrant orange glaze boldly highlights the strong horizontal lines and undecorated surfaces; by using such saturated color Zeisel successfully transcended the cool 'soulless' quality of modernist design principles.

Related Image Identifier Link:
MMA_.ma1995.440a-c.R.tif

Inkwell

Inkwell