1950s Swedish Wilhelm Kåge Gustavsberg Argenta Centerpiece Bowl

Details

Description

Spectacular 15" diameter decorative platter or centerpiece bowl designed by Wilhelm Kåge for Gustavsberg, Sweden for their very desirable ARGENTA … Read more Spectacular 15" diameter decorative platter or centerpiece bowl designed by Wilhelm Kåge for Gustavsberg, Sweden for their very desirable ARGENTA Collection of wares.
Beautiful wide shallow stoneware bowl with an applied Sterling Silver aquatic scene in center and little trailing silver bubbles scattered throughout sides of bowl. Excellent detailed design!
Bowl is finished with a double Sterling Silver band around edge. Sits on a 7" diameter unglazed base. Original labels and markings in center. Style 1035 II

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Wilhelm Kåge was born in Stockholm in 1889.
He studied decorative painting under Johan Rohde and Carl Wilhelmsson at the Technical School in Stockholm, and later, at the Gothenburg Art School in Valand.
While still in school he made money making posters—advertisements for exhibitions, plays, and shows. He was one of the first Swedes to use posters to convey messages and as advertising.
His colorful designs were soon so popular that by the time he graduated local galleries were exhibiting his work. An exhibition at Liljevalchs in 1917 drew the attention of the Gustavsberg Factory. Not long thereafter, the firm tapped Kåge to make its dinnerware and other everyday products more beautiful. He would serve as Gustavsberg’s Artistic Director until 1948.

Over these thirty years Kåge created as many varieties of tableware in innumerable new glazes and original designs. His first in a long line of successes was Argenta—a series of ceramics that ranged from enormous urns to dinnerware to accessories, like ashtrays. The pieces were produced well into the 1970s and are today extraordinarily desirable. The best known of the series are glazed in green and decorated with silver images and patterns, which Kåge, at first, had himself designed and executed. See less