Dümler & Breiden (top, l. to r. 322-17, 102-25, 187-15; bottom, l. to r. 310-15, 15-25, 112-18, 18-12, 10-14)

Sometimes a form or glaze speaks to you so strongly it provokes a kind of mania: You search day and night, high and low, and when you find it you just have to own it… and own every successive one. Such is the case with this marvelous decor by D&B, which I first glimpsed in a small antiques store on Queen Street in Toronto. The vase’s constantly moving surface, comprised of dripping yellows and blues languidly mixing into green and sporadic whitish splashes of an almost reptilian nature, was spellbinding. I was forced to leave it there, as the piece was badly chipped, but the hunt was on! The result of almost 10 years of off-and-on searching are the pieces pictured above, and I am still looking; the 112-18 in the bottom row just came to me. Someday, I would love to know who designed the glaze and how many years D&B produced it, but for now I’m just content to enjoy my pieces… well, that and to continue the search!