Antique porcelain beer mug from Villeroy & Boch "Resting traveler". The capacity of the mug is about 0.5 liters. The absence of a label indicating the size of the mug's capacity suggests that the mug was made before 1871. At the same time, we can definitely say that this unique and very rare mug should be perceived as a guest from the distant 1860. In the same year, the Luxembourg division of Villeroy & Boch (V&B) began to produce mugs of this shape. The milky white porcelain surface of the mug is decorated with a delicate pink painting. Vertical pink lines are applied to the surface of the edges, leaving the mirror of the faces intact. If you carefully examine the pink-colored surfaces, you can see the outlines of the elements of the floral decor on them. Such fine handwork by decorative artists significantly increases the collectible value of the item. The tin lid is inlaid with a porcelain insert, which is crowned by a statuette in the form of a resting traveler. The design of this mug was for half a century ahead of its time. In the middle of the 19th century, it was not customary to experiment with the shape of a beer mug — to move away from the usual cylindrical or conical shape to shapes with faces and edges. Although the artists tried to look for new forms within the framework of existing foundations. As a result, the mug received a rectangular base and a round upper part. It looked quite decent and did not cause rejection. Rather, the opposite is true. The design, so unusual for its time, began to be in demand. The explosive demand has led to other market participants starting to produce mugs in a similar style. In addition to Villeroy & Boch, mugs of this shape were produced at factories Utzschneider & Cie — Sargemins (Sargemin, Lorraine, France until 1871) and Dorfner and Co. (Hirschau, Bavaria).
On some copies, you can find the brand name of the V&B factory. Although there are many mugs of this shape that lack the V&B stamp. This fact significantly complicates the identification of mugs of this shape, since mugs of similar shapes were produced at that time by factori the Utzschneider & Cie — Sargemins and Dorfner & Co. Nevertheless, despite the external similarity, their shapes had minor differences. These differences were mainly hidden in the details of the relief of the side surfaces and in the design of the edges of the mug. Therefore, during identification, it is necessary to carefully compare the relief of the surfaces. I have in my collection a similar shaped mug from Utzschneider & Cie — Sargemins (see the link
[link] ) and from V&B. Moreover, my copy from V&B has on the outside of the bottom the trademark of the manufactory and the catalog number of the form 24 (see the link [link] ). However, there is another form in the factory catalog of V&B Mettlach under the number 24. This should not raise doubts about the legitimacy of V&B mugs in this form, which do not have a brand. A distinctive feature of V&B mugs of this shape is that the microrelief of the surface of the ribs on them is emphasized by additional vertical ribs. This is very noticeable when compared with the same place on the surface of the edge of the mug shape from the Utzschneider & Cie (see the link
[link] ) or from Dorfner & Co.
View the collection of Paulo Vik Falcon
Producer infoWe see 8 more items in our database with the same mold number and the same producer:
Show items by producer Villeroy & Boch
Comments (0)
Log in to add a comment.