German Villeroy & Boch Mettlach Peace Palace cup

A German Villeroy & Boch Mettlach Jasperware green and white cameo cup commemorating the opening of the Peace Palace in The Hague was designed and modelled by Jean-Baptiste Stahl (1869-1932). The name Phanolith is a type of porcelain coined for this type of Jasperware. Production reduced around 1912 due to the recession and in 1921 a fire destroyed all the molds, manufacturing secrets and documentation of the Mettlach factory in Saar, Germany. The official inauguration of the Peace Palace (Dutch: Vredespaleis) in The Hague was on 28 August 1913, and was originally built to provide a symbolic home for the permanent World Court of Arbitration. Today, it is home of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations, ranks among the world’s oldest, grandest and most important buildings devoted to world peace. The cameo cup was donated by Louise van Gybland Oosterhoff in 1937 to the University of Pretoria.