Gustavsberg Marks: Dating Porcelain from Värmdö

Gustavsberg ware is dated by the stamp under the base. The factory on Värmdö has used an anchor in many forms since the 19th century, often together with the name, which on older ware may be spelt Gustafsberg, and on much 20th-century ware with the name of the service, the designer’s signature and a year mark. The shape of the anchor, the spelling and the year mark together give a date that can be made more precise with marks tables.

Facts

The factory on Värmdö

Gustavsberg began making ceramics on Värmdö outside Stockholm in 1825, first faience and then creamware and porcelain. The factory town became a community of its own, with housing, a school and a church. In the 19th century the factory made tableware with printed decoration, and in the second half of the century also figures in parian, the unglazed, marble-like porcelain developed in England, as the parian figure shows.

In the 20th century Gustavsberg became one of the most important places for Swedish design. Wilhelm Kåge was artistic director from 1917, and in 1937 the factory was bought by Kooperativa förbundet. Stig Lindberg succeeded Kåge, and Lisa Larson made her figures there. Large-scale production ended in the late 20th century, but porcelain is still made on a small scale in Gustavsberg.

The anchor and the name

Gustavsberg’s mark is an anchor. It has been redrawn many times, and its form, the frame around it and the text beside it changed over the years. The look of the anchor is therefore the first marker of date. On older ware the name is often spelt Gustafsberg, which was the usual spelling before the spelling reform of 1906; Gustavsberg with a v points to the 20th century.

The mark may be printed in one colour, stamped or impressed in the body, and on creamware the name of the ware sometimes appears. The detail drawing further down shows an anchor with a year mark. With a marks table for Gustavsberg, found in the specialist literature and at collectors’ societies and museums, the shape of the anchor and the year mark can often be dated to within a few years.

Kåge’s and Lindberg’s ware

From the 1920s much ware also bears the name of the service or series and sometimes the designer’s signature. Argenta, Kåge’s green stoneware with inlaid silver from about 1930, is marked with Gustavsberg, Argenta, the anchor and a number. It is one of the clearest examples of Swedish Art Deco. Praktika, Kåge’s stackable everyday service of 1933, shows the way of thinking of Functionalism: parts that fit inside one another and can be used for many things.

Stig Lindberg’s Spisa Ribb, made from the mid-1950s, bears the anchor and the name Spisa Ribb under the base; the service is also among the works in the art section. Hand-painted pieces and art ware often have the artist’s signature beside the factory mark. The ware of Kåge, Lindberg and the other designers is protected by copyright, and it is therefore shown here only in text, with links to the objects’ own pages.

The art ware from the factory’s studios, such as Kåge’s stoneware and Lindberg’s hand-painted faience, was made in small series or as unique pieces. It often bears the artist’s signature or initials and sometimes a number, and can then be dated using the artist’s years of activity at the factory and the existing lists of the forms.

From the welfare-state kitchen to the collectors’ shelves

Gustavsberg’s everyday ware was found in a large share of Swedish homes during the decades of the Swedish welfare state, and much of it survives. This means that the same service can exist in many versions, with different stamps from different years. A printed pattern name, a different anchor or a changed typeface can distinguish an early edition from a late one.

Several patterns have been reissued, and the reissues have newer stamps than the originals. Compare also with other Nordic factories: Rörstrand marked with three crowns, see the guide to Rörstrand marks, and Arabia’s Kilta by Kaj Franck was based on the same idea as Praktika.

Other anchors and other factories

An anchor is not always Gustavsberg. The anchor is an old factory mark, and Chelsea in London, among others, used an anchor on its porcelain in the 18th century. An anchor together with the name Gustavsberg or Gustafsberg, or with a Swedish pattern name, is on the other hand a safe beginning.

Compare with Rörstrand, which marked with three crowns, and with other Swedish factories that made creamware and porcelain in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ware for export often bears Sweden or Made in Sweden. The factory’s history and ware are shown in the Gustavsberg Porcelain Museum in Gustavsberg, where stamps from different periods can also be compared.

How to date a Gustavsberg piece

First decide the body, with the help of the guide to porcelain, faience and stoneware. Creamware is light and often crazed, like the English Queen’s Ware it was modelled on; porcelain is heavier and translucent. Then read the whole mark: the shape of the anchor, the spelling, the pattern name, the signature and the year mark.

Then compare with a marks table and with the form and decoration. An anchor of the 19th century under a decoration of the 1950s means something is wrong. The guide to porcelain marks shows how other factories marked their wares, and the guide to Scandinavian design places Gustavsberg in its context. The page on ceramics has the history of the factories.

How to recognise it

Exercise

Under a bowl is written Gustafsberg, spelt with an f, beside an anchor. What does the spelling suggest?