Tile depicting a clematis, Georg Schmider - Vereinigte Zeller keramische Fabriken

Tile depicting a clematis, Georg Schmider - Vereinigte Zeller keramische Fabriken is held by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. Museum description: The motif of the tile shows the blossom of a clematis.

As a climbing plant, it particularly suits the dynamic principle of Art Nouveau. The raised outline of the tile's motif prevents the different colors and the glaze from running into each other during firing. The manufactory in Zell, Baden, specialized around 1900 in the production of Art Nouveau tiles, which were distributed throughout the entire German Empire. Unlike other German tile manufacturers, who produced both geometric and floral motifs, Zell predominantly favored floral patterns influenced by French art.

The clematis depicted here is characterized by typical design elements of Art Nouveau such as: flat depiction, no shading, the blossom is not drawn perspectivally, and the stem is rendered graphically as a winding line The museum record gives measurements height: 15.0 cm, width: 15.0 cm; maker recorded: Georg Schmider - Vereinigte Zeller keramische Fabriken. These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.