Art Nouveau Vase by Ernst Wahliss of Vienna, c1890

Art Nouveau Viennese porcelain vase by Ernst Wahliss, circa 1890. Fine condition.

Ernst Wahliss was an Austrian ceramicist who created ornate porcelain, earthenware vessels and small scale sculptures for European elites. Wahliss began as the travelling salesman for a porcelain factory at age 30. He later left to found his own ceramics company, and soon began exporting porcelain goods across Europe. He opened his own department store, Wahliss, in Vienna’s city center. Near the end of his career, he abandoned his design work to move to the rural town of Velden, where he opened a luxury hotel. Wahliss died on July 18, 1900 in Vienna, Austria.