Art Nouveau White Enamel Vase with Silver Metal Overlay – Bohemian, c.1900

Some objects don’t just sit in a room — they own it. This is one of them. Brought directly from Prague, this is a monumental Art Nouveau vase in white enamel on metal with full silver overlay decoration — and it is, without question, one of the most striking pieces of decorative metalwork you will encounter outside of a museum.

The body is formed in steel or iron, coated in smooth white enamel — the kind of pristine, luminous surface that was the hallmark of high-quality Central European decorative arts around 1900. Onto this white ground, an entire decorative programme has been applied in silver-toned metal overlay: cascading grape clusters and vine tendrils wind around the body, framed by a craquelé (cracked earth) network on the shoulder and neck, horizontal silver banding at the rim and base, and a border of iridescent blue-purple oval medallions at the foot. The foot ring is fully finished in silver metal.

The form is a classic Art Nouveau teardrop: a generous, swelling body that tapers dramatically into a long, slender neck with a flared rim. At 41 cm tall, it commands any surface it stands on.

A maker’s mark is present on the foot ring, partially legible — consistent with Bohemian or Austro-Hungarian metalwork production from the Prague region, circa 1900–1910. Possible attribution to a Central European atelier in the tradition of WMF or comparable Jugendstil manufacturers.

• Material: Steel or iron with white enamel ground and silver metal overlay decoration
• Decoration: Grape and vine motif, craquelé network, iridescent blue medallion border
• Origin: Bohemia / Prague region — Austro-Hungarian Empire
• Height: 41 cm | Diameter: 11 cm
• Weight: 1,010 g
• Circa: 1900–1910
• Mark: Partial maker’s mark on foot ring — Bohemian or Austro-Hungarian
• Condition: Very good antique condition; enamel and overlay intact throughout

This is a collector’s piece and a room-defining object. Place it on a mantelpiece, a console table, or a pedestal and let it do what it was made to do: stop people in their tracks.

⚠️ WARNING: This vase will immediately become the most important object in whatever room you place it in. Maison de L’oro accepts no responsibility for any subsequent rearrangement of furniture around it, the purchase of a dedicated display pedestal, or the realisation that everything else you own now looks slightly ordinary by comparison.