Bottle Vase in Mottled Brown Glazed Stoneware by Carl-Harry Stålhane for Rörstrand, Sweden, 1960

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Carl-Harry Stålhane (1920–1990) joined Rörstrand in 1939 as a ceramic painter and was appointed artistic director and chief designer of … Read more Carl-Harry Stålhane (1920–1990) joined Rörstrand in 1939 as a ceramic painter and was appointed artistic director and chief designer of the factory in 1953, succeeding Gunnar Nylund. His early works are characterized by slender, symmetrical forms in monochrome or matte glazes, inspired by Chinese Song dynasty ceramics.

In the early 1960s, his interests shifted toward more robust forms, often hand-built, with incised decoration and thick, viscous glazes. He won the gold medal at the Milan Triennale in 1954. His work is represented in several international museums, including the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

This bottle-shaped vase, with its cylindrical body slightly widened towards the shoulder and short, straight neck, exemplifies Stålhane's work around 1960: the simple, taut form allows the glaze to take center stage. The glaze is remarkably complex in its chromatic range—a warm reddish-brown background at the top, fading to a dark, olive brown towards the base, traversed by randomly distributed moss-green spots and speckles, characteristic of "hare's fur" glazes.

In the early 1960s, Stålhane experimented with various clays and minerals from the Rörstrand region, making these materials a direct source of inspiration. The rim of the neck features a thin line of honey-colored glaze.

The base bears Stålhane's incised signature, the initials CH, the Rörstrand mark, and the inscription "Sweden," along with the date 60. This piece has an attribution mark,
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