Compagnie Nationale d'Émaillerie de Belgique (CNEB) | Enamelware Washbowl and Jug | Stencilled Iris Decoration | Enamelled Steel | Belgium | c.1920s–1940s

The graduating ground — pale at the shoulder, deepening to brown at the base — is a piece of period thinking about colour that no purely functional object needed to bother with, and yet someone bothered.

The Compagnie Nationale d'Émaillerie de Belgique, trading under the mark CNEB, was one of Belgium's principal enamelware manufacturers and produced domestic enamelware for both the home market and export across much of the twentieth century. Belgian enamelware of the inter-war period is distinguished by a higher standard of finish than much of its Eastern European counterpart — the grounds are more carefully applied, the stencilled decoration more controlled, and the colour choices more evidently considered. This set demonstrates those qualities: the ground graduates from pale pink at the upper body to a deep warm brown at the base, a treatment that gives the pieces an Art Deco sensibility without any explicitly geometric decoration. The stencilled flower — an iris in red and orange with a yellow centre and upright green foliage — is placed centrally on each piece with a single bud on the stem, the composition balanced and unhurried.

The jug is tall with a wide angled spout, a loop handle and the iris arrangement centred on the body. The graduating ground deepens noticeably below the midpoint, giving the lower half of the jug a warm, almost terracotta quality. The washbowl is wide and shallow with a rolled rim, carrying the same iris on the exterior with the graduating ground consistent in tone and depth. The interiors of both pieces are the pale pink of the upper ground, clean and undecorated.

Both pieces show honest age-consistent wear. There is enamel loss at the rim of the bowl and at the base of both pieces. A small chip with minor associated rusting is present at the base of the jug. The decoration on both pieces remains clear and largely intact. There are no holes in either piece.

• Maker: Compagnie Nationale d'Émaillerie de Belgique (CNEB)
• Form: Washbowl and Jug
• Material: Enamelled Steel
• Decoration: Stencilled iris — red, orange and yellow on graduating pink-to-brown ground
• Country of Manufacture: Belgium
• Backstamp: CNEB — Made in Belgium — Belgique (triangle mark)
• Date: c.1920s–1940s
• Condition: Good used condition — age-consistent enamel loss to rims and bases; small chip with minor rusting at jug base; decoration clear and largely intact; no holes

Belgian enamelware of this period was made well enough to survive, and decorated carefully enough to be worth surviving — which is not something every object of its era can claim.