Kari Christensen (1938-1997) Danish, Royal Copenhagen Hand-Painted Faience Vase. Cute stylized floral patterns on both sides. Marked on base with the symbol of the company, as well as the artist's signature and numbered 181/2878. 

Size: 5 x 4 x 7 1/4 in. 

Kari Christensen (1938-1997) was an artist at Royal Copenhagen’s faience and stoneware department under Nils Thorsson. She was one of six young female artists from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden who Thorsson brought into the faience department in 1958 to create a whole new style that came to prominence throughout the 60s and 70s. She remained with the company until her death, and her pieces are highly appreciated by collectors for their charm, whimsical motifs, and innovative patterns. 

Royal Copenhagen, officially the Royal Porcelain Factory, is a Danish manufacturer of porcelain products that was founded in Copenhagen in 1775 by decree of Danish Dowager Queen Juliane Marie. It is recognized by its factory mark, the three wavy lines above each other, symbolizing Denmark’s three waterways: Storebælt, Lillebælt and Øresund. Europeans, long fascinated by the blue and white porcelain exported from China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, began to imitate the precious ware in the early 17th Century. The Danish chemist Frantz Heinrich Müller was the first operator of the factory, and was given a 50-year monopoly to create porcelain. The factory’s pattern No. 1, still in production, is “Musselmalet” (mussel-painted), known as “Blue Fluted” in English-speaking countries. The blue is cobalt, after a discovery in 1772 of a rich vein of cobalt in Norway, the junior part of the joint kingdom at that time. In 1851 Royal Copenhagen entered into the Great Exhibition in London. In 1868 all royal companies were privatized, although the Royal Porcelain Factory chose to keep the designation due to their international recognition by then. In 1883 the company was bought by Aluminia, an earthenware company. Over the next hundred years they embraced modernist styles, and after multiple acquisitions the company ceased operations in Denmark, with their products now being produced in Thailand.