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WMF Ikora silver plated vase

This very stylish Art Deco vase was made by the German company WMF (Wurttembergische Metallwarenfabrik). The vase from the Ikora range is a squat baluster shape and is in burnished silver plated metal that has been hand-decorated with leaves in copper coloured and black enamel applied by fusion to the surface of the metal. The base is stamped with the mark depicting a lighthouse in a circle on a hill with "WMF Ikora" below.

Approximate dimensions:
Weight: 2lbs 11/8ozs - 941gms
Height: 8.66ins - 22cms
Diameter: 7.48ins - 19cms

The entire range of Ikora metalwork was produced by WMF from the early 1920s until the 1960s.
During the first world war, Hugo Debach, who later became director-general of WMF, took the initiative in having experiments conducted in chemical and thermal tinting of metals. Shortly before 1927 he founded the Neue Kunstgewerbliche Abteilung (NKA: New Division for the Applied Arts) at WMF for upgrading metals. The brilliant colours and the boundless possibilities for design arising from this new technique met with resounding success at the time.
The name "Ikora" comes from a plant with brilliantly coloured flowers endemic to south-east Asia sacred to the goddess Ixora and was adopted by WMF to convey the costly and exclusive quality of this range.