Flat bowl

The cream-colored plate bowl was painted mainly in earthy brown tones. It shows a motif from nature with simple but highly nuanced strokes: a heron stands on its left leg in front of a brown hatched background, with wings spread wide. It has just stretched its right leg forward, while in its claws a fish writhes. Both animals have wide-open eyes, the fish as it engages in the death struggle, the heron as it concentrates on not letting the fish escape. This flat bowl was made by Siegen-born ceramic artist Paul Dresler, whose outstanding career was crowned in 1937 with a Gold Medal and the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exposition. Dresler’s pieces were many times designed with motifs from the world of flora and fauna, and inspired by Islamic, Persian or Japanese models. Dresler made use of the faience technique. Its raw material is ochre to reddish firing clay, to which a coloured or white glaze is applied. The resulting product resembles precious porcelain.