Alfred Stelmacher founded the Amphora company for the production of artistic ceramics in Tern-Teplice, Bohemia. He was born in 1837 in the town of Steinheid in Thuringia, worked in ceramic factories in the area, where he mastered the craft. Stelmacher founded his first porcelain factory in Tournai in 1876. The factory produced porcelain flowers that were superior in quality to French products. In the 1870s, Stelmacher developed a new ceramic material that became known as ivory porcelain due to its soft yellowish hue and matte finish. The new material allowed the ceramist to create more complex modeling and detailing of forms.
Glazed jug and vase with thistle and water lily ornament, AMPHORA RIESSNER, STELLMACHER & KESSEL
In 1892, Alfred Stelmacher organized the Riessner, Stellmacher & Kessel (RStK) porcelain factory. All the owners were relatives of Alfred: Karl and Hans Riessner and Rudolf Kessel were his sons-in-law, and Eduard Stelmacher was his son. The new company became known under the brand name “Amphora”. The company’s collection won the highest honor at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and won the Gold Medal at the San Francisco Exposition the same year.
Beginning in the late 1890s, the company produced Art Nouveau ceramics. From 1893 to 1904, the firm’s collections received countless awards. Many of the firm’s products are virtually impossible to manufacture today, and if they could be reproduced, the cost would be prohibitive.
Vase with dragon Two-winged, height 33.5 cm, design by Eduard Stelmacher, 1899-1900Porcelain lamp base in the form of a female figure, height 43 cm, 1900Porcelain vase Life in the Forest, height 26 cm, design Role Dachsel, circa 1900Pair of porcelain vases with mermaid figurines, height 47 cm.Large figurative porcelain vase Calla lily, height 59 cm, design by Eduard Stelmacher, circa 1905Porcelain vase with moth, height 28 cm, circa 1900Ceramic figurative table decoration, length 49.5 cm, 1900Vase Iris, height 52 cm.Porcelain composition modeled as a lobster and a dragon fighting on a shell, 46 cm long, circa 1900Porcelain figured vase Snowdrops, height 61 cm.Glazed ceramic vase with a female profile representing France, height 30.5 cm, design by Nikolaus Kannhauser, circa 1899-1900Ceramic glazed vase with a female profile representing Austria-Hungary, 18 cm high, design by Nikolaus Kannhauser, circa 1894Two-handled vase Fairy Princess, height 26 cm, circa 1900Vase and jug, height 23 cm, 1892-1905Porcelain vase depicting a female profile symbolizing Autumn, height 36 cm, 1897Porcelain lamp base in the form of a female figure, height 36 cm, 1905Vase with dandelions and gilding, height 33 cm, 1895Porcelain vase Fairy Princess, height 22 cm, circa 1900Porcelain vase Portrait, height 52 cm, 1892-1893Table decoration Mirage, height 40 cmPorcelain vase depicting an octopus and a crab, 1900Porcelain figurines of dancing girls, 1900Vase decorated with oak branches, 1900Heron vase and stucco rose vase, 1900
