Dish

This earthenware dish with slip decoration is incised and worked, and painted in green and brown glazes. It demonstrates Bindesbøll's use of abstracted Japanese motifs to create the pattern in a vigorous, expressionist manner, typical of much of his work. Japanese style, which spread across Europe in the late nineteenth century, also prompted an altogether looser aesthetic, with interest in organic forms, rich surface patination, and abstracted decoration.

Bindesbøll was an architect and designer who worked across different media, from furniture to book-binding. From 1880 to 1906, he developed a particular interest in ceramics which helped him to hone his distinctive style. Like many designers, Bindesbøll usually instructed professional potters in the actual potting, after which he would decorate the wet clay himself and apply the glaze. In the case of this dish, the manufacturing was undertaken by Københavns Lervarefabrik. It has been hand decorated, but Bindesbøll also produced designs for mass production.