Royal Copenhagen Stoneware Figurines

Royal Copenhagen produced a variety of stoneware figurines, beginning as early as 1900 and continuing through the 1980's;.  ALl remaining stoneware figurines were discontinued after the merger with B&G in 1987; none are in production today.  Many of their most famous artists worked in stoneware (Knud Kyhn, Jais Nielsen, and Axel Salto, among others) and their figurines were produced in a variety of stoneware bodies and glazes.

The Artists:

• KK - Knud Kyhn (1880-1969) was perhaps the most prolific of the stoneware designers and created most of the stoneware figurines that are so closely associated with Royal Copenhagen.

• JN - Jais Nielsen (at Royal Copenhagen from 1920 until his death in 1961) trained under Patrick Nordstrom, and is most famous for his religious subjects, many in Biblical, Roman, or medieval costume. His figurine "The Potter" is over 5 feet tall and won a gold medal at the 1925 Paris World's Fair.
• AS - Axel Salto (1889-1961) is most famous for his abstract vases and sculptures, but created a number of figurines depicting Aktaeon, who in Greek and Roman mythology was a hunter who happened upon Diana one day when she was bathing in a pool in the woods.  When Diana realized that Aktaeon had been spying on her nakedness, she changed him into a deer and sent her hounds to chase him down and tear him apart.  
• JH - Johannes Hedegarrd (at Royal Copenhagen from 1948 through 1966) worked in stoneware, faience, and porcelain.  Many of his smaller figurines were in regular production for a number of years, but most of his larger stoneware sculptures were produced in very limited editions of ten or twenty-five examples.  Women were his favorite subject, and he used the light brown color and texture of stoneware for their skin, giving them an exotic South Seas aura.  Clothing and other ornamentation was usually done in a deep turquoise blue glaze, frequently with hand painted patterns.  

The Glazes:

• Sung - Perhaps the most common stoneware glaze, it is a mottled brown with sometimes hints of blues and greens.  
• Sang-de-boeuf (Oxblood) - A red glaze, often streaked in various shades of red darkening almost to black, with occasional traces of green and blue.  

Because the mottling and streaking of these glazes occurs during the firing process, the final result is always somewhat unpredictable, and each piece is unique, in some sense.  Most figurines have a five digit shape number in the range 20000 to 22999, which is usually either written or impressed into the base of each piece.  Most also bear the atist's "signature" or marks; most often these are part of the mold from which the figurines are made so that the "signature" is reproduced along with the other details of the sculpture.  All items are first quality & mint condition unless otherwise specified.  Click on any Title/Description appearing in BLUE to see a picture.  

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