Bode Willumsen Bronzite Glaze Bottle Commissioned by King Christian X

A drop-shaped stoneware bottle vase designed and made by Bode Willumsen in 1937.

The highly acclaimed yet inadequately documented ceramicist Bode Willumsen came from a family of creatives. Most notably his father was the painter, sculptor, ar­chi­tect, pho­tog­ra­pher, and designer Jens Fer­di­nand Willumsen, who from 1897 to 1900 was an artis­tic di­rec­tor at the porce­lain fac­tory Bing & Grøn­dahl.

It was perhaps thanks to his father’s extensive array of skills, experimentation in different mediums, and, of course, connections that B. Willumsen found ceramics, as he had trained as a blacksmith before turning to art and then pottery. Certainly, ceramics were B. Willumsen’s calling, and it was in this field that he developed an original expression. 

Following experience in draftsmanship at Bing and Grondahl, B. Willumsen began employment in Royal Copenhagen’s stoneware department in 1925, and almost immediately his work was not only proficient but curated. His ceramics showed an affinity with history, nature and fiction. With great ingenuity and inspired by East Asian art, sculptural forms of people, animals and mythical beasts were placed on handles, knops and finials. 

On leaving Royal Copenhagen, around 1930, for a short period Willumsen worked with Ipsens Enke, where he further explored awe-inspiring, grotesque and humorous sculptural forms, still often as applied decoration.

In 1932 Willumsen established his own workshop and became involved in all aspects of ceramics, from kiln construction to sales. Accountable to no one, the work from his own studio can be characterised as primordial. Items have a coarseness and were often deliberately crooked. Eagerly experimenting, he strove for stone-like surface effects with mottled glazes in brown, green, grey and blue. 

At first, Axel Salto also worked in the workshop, where he benefited greatly from Willumsen's craftspersonship and chemical expertise. In the second half of the 1930s, Willumsen partnered with silversmith Hans Hansen, and the pair shared a shop at Niels Hemmingsens Gade 12 in Copenhagen.

This squat asymmetric bottle with a bronzite-like glaze is a creation of Willumsen and Hansen’s collaboration. The vessel is an anniversary bottle to mark the occasion of the celebration of Danish King Christian X's 25 years of reign. Produced in a very small, limited number the bottles were a personal gift from King Christian X to all the women invited to the celebratory banquet that took place at the castle of Christianburg, Copenhagen, May 18th, 1937.

Originally, the bottle was fitted with a sterling silver stopper with the king's and queen's monograms and the years 1912-1937. However, this bottle is without its stopper. Indeed, the original silver caps are extremely rare.

As a result of World War II, the supply of coal gradually became so unstable that Willumsen was forced to close his workshop in 1942 and return to employment at Royal Copenhagen, where he stayed until 1947. During the 1950s and 60s, Willumsen chose to work with enamel on copper which utilised his great chemical knowledge.