The Home Beautiful: The Fennia Vase, 1900-1920

Vase from the "Fennia" Line
Arabia Company, Finland
1900-1920
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made at the Arabia Company in Finland, this cast white earthenware vase takes a cylindrical form with a wider circular foot. It’s adorned with wholly early Twentieth-Century patterns of diamond shapes. These are both printed onto the vessel as well as hand-painted with an overglaze of red, black, yellow, buff and green.

This vase was part of a range called “Fennia” which was the result of a 1900 commission from an American importer who wished for designs by a “Famous Finnish artist.” The importer got his wish, but, the name of the “famous” artist was never revealed. Some speculate that the design is the work of Armas, one of three of the most famous Finnish architects of the early Twentieth Century. The range included thirty designs and was discontinued in the early 1920s. 

Gifts of Grandeur: The August Hollming Brooch, 1895-1899

Brooch
August Hollming, 1895-1899
The VIctoria & Albert Museum

This attractive circular brooch consists of a sinuous gold stem which twines around a central cluster of three cabochon sapphire and diamond buds. Indicative of the Naturalistic tendencies of Art Nouveau jewelry, the brooch dates to 1895-1899.


The exceptionally clean cabochon sapphires, exquisitely-set diamonds and flawless gold-work are, at first, mistaken for the work of a French jeweler, however, we can tell by the mark that this is from the hand of August Hollming, one of the many Finnish craftsmen working in pre-revolutionary Russia. Hollming is best known as one of Fabergé's most celebrated work-masters. The gold is also stamped 56 [zolotniki], the equivalent standard of 14 carat gold. Russian jewelers, especially those who worked with Fabergé were applauded for their outstanding work and produced some of the most gorgeous jewels of the period. Their work, in fact, proved influential throughout Europe and the U.S.