Søholm Danish Modern Stoneware Table Lamp, Brown and Blue Glaze, New Shade

A Danish Mid-Century Modern stoneware table lamp by Søholm Stentøj of Bornholm, model 1021, attributed to Einar Johansen, in an amber-brown and blue glaze. The base dates from circa the 1960s. It is paired with a new blue lampshade made in Denmark, which has a removable top. Newly wired for U.S. use. International plug customization available at no charge. Height includes lampshade. Stentøj is Danish for stoneware, and the word is stamped on the base beside the factory name. Stoneware is fired at a higher temperature than earthenware, which gives it a dense, durable body. Søholm is prized above all for its glazes, and this lamp is a fine example. The color isn't painted on; it moved in the kiln. Blue-violet runs down the neck, spills over the shoulder and trails down the corners across an amber-brown ground. Where the blue meets the relief it thins to a pale, feathered tone, while the edge of each rib holds the amber. A glaze like this fires differently every time, so no two examples of the model are alike. Beneath the glaze, the form is spare and upright: a tall, tapering neck rising from a squared body with canted corners. Each face carries a column of stacked, lens-shaped ribs in relief. They give the glaze something to catch on, so the color shifts from rib to rib and the lamp reads differently from every side. The base is impressed "Søholm," "Danmark," and "Stentøj," with the factory mark and model number 1021. There is no designer's monogram, so the attribution to Einar Johansen rests on the model rather than the mark. Specialist dealers credit model 1021 to Johansen, and a Danish dealer has offered another example, in a matte grey glaze, as bearing his EJ monogram.