Inventory Number KAW010
Size 11.5" h x 18.5" w x 11" d
Material Stoneware and metal
Period Art Deco
Country of Origin Sweden
Year Made 1930
Wilhelm Kåge served as general director of the Gustavsberg Ceramics Factory from 1917 to 1960, a lengthy tenure during which he introduced innovative styles and techniques. Perhaps the most famous of these is the “Argenta” line, a luxurious silver-inlaid stoneware, launched in 1930. During the 1930s Kåge visited Japan, and subsequently took an interest in Far Eastern ceramic forms and techniques. This spectacular dragon seems more playful than threatening, however, and belongs to a genre of almost puppyish dragon sculptures that Gustavsberg produced well into the 1950s. None, however, can rival this tour de force. Gilt-silver has been wrapped around and inlaid into the green-glazed stoneware, and the object has been mounted upon a curvilinear wooden base. Possibly an exhibition piece, this virtuosic example of the Argenta line reputedly once belonged to a director of the Saab automotive company.
Literature: For similar examples of Gustavsberg dragon sculptures see Eronn, Gisela, Wilhelm Kåge: Keramikens Mästare (Stockholm: Prisma, 2006), 102, [104-105]. None, however, is from the Argenta line.