Mobach Ceramics Abstract Art Pottery Cube by Tom Bruinsma
A cube-shaped ceramic sculpture from Dutch studio, Mobach, designed NOT by Piet Knepper as others would claim, but Tom Bruinsma as evidenced by the mark on this piece.
Dimensions: 5-1/2" X 5-1/2" x 5-1/2"
Condition: GREAT vintage used shape
+++++
From Dutch pottery, Mobach Ceramics, who has been throwing pottery since 1895 and five generations of the Mobach family. Mobach today continues to make pottery as they did 120 years ago, wheel-thrown in small or one-off batches. The variations created by being entirely handmade makes each piece unique and one-of-a-kind.
This modern piece has an unmistakable style aesthetic, and almost every listing online attributes, provided there's even an attribution, this line to acclaimed Dutch ceramicist and furniture maker, Piet Knepper. That attribution did not sit well with me. For one, I never use a listing as a credible attribution source unless they describe how they came to that attribution. I could not find a single listing where the Seller could back up their attribution. Even ones that said the piece was signed was not signed by Knepper. As I looked into this more, I also could not find a single attribution to Mobach that wasn't Piet Knepper. I could not find any information on what Knepper's relationship with Mobach was, but with "five generations of Mobachs" it's difficult to believe that every piece was designed by one man. Digging into the mark on this piece more, it matches the mark of Tom Bruinsma, another ceramacist and furniture designer that designed for Mobach. I believe this is another case of "listing lemmingism", lazy Sellers and auction houses that blindly use other listings as their attribution source. Confirming attribution is a very easy thing to do but in today's e-commerce world, laziness and apathy run rampant.
Regardless, I hope you find this as interesting a piece as I do. The more I stare at it, and at time I can't seem to stop, there more interesting I find it. While I have not uncovered a name for the piece or line, my inner name that I've been calling it has been "Green Cheese". What I have uncovered, which is very little, is there appears to have been three different size cubes with this one being either the middle or largest. There is also a sphere in the same style, but uncertain if there are different sizes of that shape as well. Almost all of the listings that I have found had the same coloration, a white glossy glaze with green tinged crack. I found one listing where the cube was a mottled rusty red color.
Mobach Ceramics Abstract Art Pottery Cub measures 5-1/2" on each side. It is in GREAT vintage used shape in that there are no chips, crazing, or cracks, other than the big intentional one. There is a small spot where it looks like someone dropped a bit of jam (I don't know that it's jam, just what it looks like to me) on the face of one side. The jam, or whatever it was, seems to have seeped into the glaze and will not come out, at least by conventional cleaning methods. It's the only area I feel needs to be called out. It doesn't feel like damage as much as "part of its patina" so that's what I'm going to go with.