Hans-Stoltenberg Lerche

HANS-STOLTENBERG LERCHE (Düsseldorf 1867-1920) for Friedrich Goldscheider in Paris.
Tabletop centerpiece.
Silver-plated pewter.
Signed on the front.
With gilt plaque of Friedrich Goldscheider on the back.
Author referenced in Philippe DAHHAN's book, Étains 1900, 200 Sculpteurs de la Belle Époque, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2000.
Weight: 5,200 g. (without stand).
Measurements: 27 x 25 x 23 cm.

Globular silver-plated pewter vase from the Art Nouveau period. The piece has a handle on the top and is decorated in relief with an intoxicating scene: two curious children looking into the vase.

Hans Stoltenberg-Lerche was an exceptionally versatile Norwegian-German artist, active as a sculptor, painter and craftsman in figurative ceramics, jewelry, metalwork and, notably, glass. He trained initially as a ceramist in Germany, and later studied sculpture in Naples and Paris, being a pupil of the painter Ernest Carrière. His designs were in great demand in Paris, where he created models in ceramic and bronze, also collaborating with the Viennese manufacture Goldscheider. He achieved great recognition at the turn of the century for his figurative vessels, receiving a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition and participating in the 1902 Turin Exposition. In 1911, Stoltenberg-Lerche was hired by the Murano glass manufacturer Fratelli Toso. There, he applied his artistic ideas to this new material, creating with the help of Vittorio Toso, unique glass vessels with atmospheric scenes of impressionistic abstraction, an approach that contrasted sharply with the factory's traditional production.