Bohemian porcelain vase is unusual and valuable

Dear Helaine and Joe: I am enclosing pictures of a vase that my aunt bought for $25 at an antiques show fifty years ago. It is in colors of light brown, beige, and cream. The vase looks like a tree trunk with a nude woman and three dimensional representations of flowers, buds, and leaves. The petals on the flowers are paper thin and remind me of Boehm porcelain. It is 16 inches tall, and any information would be helpful.

Very truly yours. — S.S., Fair Lawn, N.J.

Dear S.S.: This is truly a remarkable piece of porcelain. It was made in Bohemia — current day Czech Republic — more than 100 years ago by a firm whose work is greatly respected by today's collectors.

The factory that manufactured this piece was located in a town that at the time was called Turn or Turn-Teplitz, but is now known as Trnovany. This was the location of a number of very important pottery and porcelain manufacturers including Riessner, Stellmacher, & Kessel Amphora; Ditmar-Urback; and Alfred Stellmacher Imperial and Royal Porcelain Factory.

By most reports, Ernst Wahliss was initially a retailer who sold Bohemian pottery and porcelain in stores that he owned in both London and Vienna. This enterprise started about 1863, but in 1894 Wahliss bought the defunct Alfred Stellmacher factory and began manufacturing his own art wares, which for the most part, were of a very high quality.

Wahliss died in 1900 and his sons took over the operation of the factory, and in 1905, they changed the name to Alexandra Porcelain Works Ernst Wahliss.

The best pieces of the Wahliss factory were those done in the Art Nouveau fashion that are distinguished by their curved and sensuously flowing lines, and their naturalistic representations of flowers, animals, and female nudes.

Wahliss was particularly known for his depictions of Art Nouveau style nudes, and the vase belonging to S.S. has a fine elongated figure, which may indeed be a representation of a wood nymph reaching for an onion shaped flower bud that is atop a spray of three dimensional flowers and leaves.

The flowers look very realistic and they are modeled with great skill and detail. The important question here is how much damage is there to the delicate pedals and leaves? A few chips here and there that are not unsightly are acceptable on pieces such as this one and are generally referred to as "expected losses."