Modern Porcelain
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Porcelain
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1970s Italian Vintage Modern Porcelain
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Late 20th Century German Modern Porcelain
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Late 20th Century German Modern Porcelain
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Early 2000s English Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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Late 20th Century Italian Modern Porcelain
Gold
1960s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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20th Century French Modern Porcelain
Ceramic
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Porcelain
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1990s Mexican Modern Porcelain
Silver
Late 20th Century Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Porcelain
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1980s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
Glass, Cut Glass
1970s French Vintage Modern Porcelain
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2010s Spanish Modern Porcelain
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1970s French Vintage Modern Porcelain
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Porcelain
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1990s German Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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Early 2000s German Modern Porcelain
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1950s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
2010s German Modern Porcelain
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1990s Hungarian Modern Porcelain
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Early 2000s Spanish Modern Porcelain
Ceramic, Porcelain, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Porcelain
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1970s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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1970s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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Early 2000s Italian Modern Porcelain
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Late 20th Century Italian Modern Porcelain
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1980s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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Mid-20th Century Hungarian Modern Porcelain
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20th Century German Modern Porcelain
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1980s American Vintage Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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1960s Swiss Vintage Modern Porcelain
Paint, Porcelain
1980s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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1980s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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2010s European Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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Late 20th Century Italian Modern Porcelain
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20th Century German Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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Late 20th Century Italian Modern Porcelain
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Early 2000s Italian Modern Porcelain
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20th Century Modern Porcelain
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20th Century Modern Porcelain
Ceramic
1970s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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1960s Danish Vintage Modern Porcelain
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1980s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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1990s Italian Modern Porcelain
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Porcelain
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20th Century Spanish Modern Porcelain
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1990s German Modern Porcelain
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21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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20th Century German Modern Porcelain
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2010s Dutch Modern Porcelain
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2010s German Modern Porcelain
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2010s German Modern Porcelain
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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1980s German Vintage Modern Porcelain
Glass, Cut Glass
1970s Japanese Vintage Modern Porcelain
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Porcelain
Ceramic
2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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2010s Italian Modern Porcelain
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20th Century German Modern Porcelain
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