This ceramic mushroom sculpture and flower frog was produced by the Lantz, Nova Scotia, Canada pottery, founded in 1949 by artists Ernst and Alma Lorenzen, and I think is completely exquisite!
Ernst Lorenzen was a forester/naturalist from Denmark and Alma an Acadian from Cocagne, New Brunswick. The two began creating pottery in 1947 as a hobby while living in New Brunswick. Upon moving to Nova Scotia, they became fascinated by the diverse and plentiful fungi around them and began to create models of mushrooms they collected, developing glazes using mineral deposits collected from around the province to get true to life colors for the mushrooms. A single mushroom took about 15 days to complete from clay sculpture to final firing and each is a little work of art avidly collected for their beauty as well as their botanical accuracy; in fact, they have often been used by museums and universities as teaching tools.
The bottom of the piece is signed "Lorenzens Lantz Nova Scotia." On the bottom of each of their pieces also appears the species of the particular mushroom represented--in this case the first of the two words is a bit difficult to read because of a tiny chip in the glaze at the end of the first word but it looks like "Naucana Christinae"--and I must say is quite a lovely species!
This piece is in perfect condition other than the tiny surface chip on the underside. It measures 3 5/8" tall x 2 1/4" wide x 1 3/4" deep.
