Darmstadt Art Nouveau Wash Set — Stenciled Swan Bowl & Pitcher, Pattern 312

An Art Nouveau ceramic wash set comprising a low basin and matching ewer, decorated in a graphic black-on-cream scheme of vertical pin-stripes framing stylized swan medallions. Both pieces are faceted rather than fully round, the panels defined by ruled black lines with a single crisp band at the rim and base. The swan cartouches — a coiling bird over a leafy foot within a beaded oval — repeat around the circumference. Underglaze marked DARMSTADT / 312 on both bases, with an impressed maker's device on the pitcher foot.

The name and stencil-style ornament place this within the German decorative idiom associated with the Darmstadt artists' colony milieu of the early 1900s, when Jugendstil designers pushed toward flatter, more geometric pattern work. A basin-and-ewer set of this scale served the bedroom washstand before indoor plumbing was universal; today the pair reads as a strong graphic statement, the swan motif and ruled panels carrying the whole composition.

CONDITION

Bowl grades Poor: a full-thickness crack runs down through the rim, with two glaze chips to the rim edge (approximately 1" × 1" and 3/4" × 3/8") exposing the biscuit, plus crazing and interior surface scratching throughout. Pitcher grades Good with age-appropriate wear and light crazing; no cracks or losses noted. Sold as a matched set.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Bowl: 14" Diameter × 5" H
• Pitcher: 10 1/2" H × 5" W × 8" D (with handle and spout)
• Marks: DARMSTADT / 312 (underglaze, both pieces); impressed device on pitcher foot
• Total Pieces: 2