Paul Haustein for Ikora Dinanderie mixed metal Art Deco Vase

Art Deco Dinanderie employs an inventive use of mixed metals with mixed techniques to achieve its unique array of colors and patinas.  This vase is part of the Ikora line of the famed German company WMF (the Wurteenbergische Mettalwarenfabrik) . Paul Haustein WMF IKORA Germany 1930

This one is especially wonderful as it has a dynamic figure of a Greek Warrior and his horse. The piece itself is made by hammering and rolling three different metals into shapes: Copper, Brass and Silver.  Then the colors and patterns are created by the use of alternating temperatures from the blazing heat of a blow torch to  ice cooling. More patination is brought about through chemical acid etching…so the process is complex. It also includes “crusations metalliques coulees” (onlays and inlays of different metals) and electroplating of the metal surfaces.

You may think these were done “mid-century” in the 40s-60s and it is true that there was  a great revival of this technique at that time. But in fact it began much earlier, in the 1920s with artists like Jean Dunand  in France whose work is especially prized and with pieces from Paul Haustein in Germany who may have designed this vase in the 1930s.