Ceramic Ashtray or Key Holder/Vide Poche Dutch Art Nouveau

Signed Dalia Konin Klyk, Coedewaalem, Gouda, Holland and numbered on bottom.
Measures: 4 3/4 in. diameter x 2 3/8 in. high

Other interesting information about this form of pottery:

There isn’t a factory called Gouda Pottery; the pottery is called that because the main factories were in Gouda. Gouda (pronounced ‘how-da’) is the generic term we use for all the pottery factories in Holland – all Dutch pottery other than Delftware, that is.

The area around Gouda had clay to make pots, which is why most of the factories settled there. A lot of the clay also came from England. The Dutch started producing clay pipes circa 1740, and some of the factories that produced clay pipes turned to making pottery because there was demand. They didn’t do it for love; they did it for profit. People wanted pottery for their home.

This style of pottery was pioneered in circa 1898 by a company called Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland, or PZH, but they didn’t produce the type of pottery that you see on our storefront. That wasn’t made until circa 1910 when they discovered a new process to produce matte glazed pottery. It was known as the Rhodian process, which is actually the name of one of the most popular decors. It was known as matte glazed pottery.