Rare Art Nouveau jug after a design by Wilhelm Ratelbeck. Dr. Fritz Hammerschmidt, Grenzhausen.

Press mark. Around 1920, model no. 322, designed by Wilhelm Ratelbeck, originally for Alfons Wilhelm Lötschert (1912-1919).

Stoneware, gray salt glaze, painted in blue. H 30 cm. 1801 g.

Conical body with profiled wall and angled handle. Circumferential vertical decorative bands with circular knobs. Slightly domed metal lid. Minimal signs of age.

Wilhelm Ratelbeck (dates of birth unknown): From around 1904 to 1907, Ratelbeck studied at the Städtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule in Elberfeld. In 1910 Ratelbeck worked as a teacher at the ceramics college in Höhr. From 1912 to 1913 he lived in Magdeburg. From 1913, Ratelbeck worked as a teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts in Cologne. He produced designs for the Westerwald stoneware industry, including companies such as Marzi & Remy and Alphons Lötschert. (Source: museum-digital rheinland-pfalz, https://rlp.museum-digital.de/people/3334).