Mushroom Fantasy

The product of the Porsgrund pottery factory in Norway at the beginning of the twentieth century, this Mushroom Fantasy vase takes the very simplistic shape of an upright cylindrical body; the real interest and captivation inherent to this work reveals itself in the glazed ornamentation painted onto the body. A regular pattern of perfectly vertical green stems grows from a base of pink and brown mushrooms. Growing from these stems are beautiful, pastel-pink flowers and white berries. A pattern of mushrooms in the background slowly fade in their color, providing a truly outstanding example of atmospheric perspective. The white background in which these mushrooms can be found slowly darkens to blue at the top of the vase, where white berries decorate the rim. The combination of these regularly repeated patterns is an ethereal atmosphere of fantasy, which gives the work its name.