Vase

In 1895, a year after introducing its Iris glaze line, Rookwood began experimenting with the highly difficult technical feat of using the color black in decoration applied under the glaze. The experiments succeeded, and in 1899, Rookwood launched the Black Iris glaze line, which featured natural colored decorations, usually flora, on black backgrounds.

Japanese-born Kataro Shirayamadani, Rookwood’s most accomplished decorator, designed and created this masterpiece in the pottery’s new line. It features birds flying above masterfully carved silver and copper water lilies, all against a black night sky. The complex technique of adding metallic decoration to clay via electrodeposit had been developed by Shirayamadani earlier that year, but Rookwood soon discontinued its application due to its high production costs.

This vase, because of its date, its size, its use of the electrodeposited metal technique, its glaze line, its decorator and its quality, was most certainly one of the works that was displayed at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, where Rookwood received the grand prize—the fair’s highest honor.