On the occasion of the First Hague Peace Conference in 1899, a collection of five Peace Vases, richly decorated with Art Nouveau ornaments, flowers and leaf motifs, was produced by a company called Koninklijke Plateelbakker Rozenburg. The vases were made for the World Exhibition of 1900 in Paris where they were much admired.

The multicolored pottery vases are decorated by hand and all have a painting related to the Peace Conference in The Hague. Three vases are adorned with a lid in the shape of a Russian domed church. On these vases the important locations are represented. For example, Huis ten Bosch is depicted as the location where the conference was held, the Vijverberg in The Hague as the seat of the Dutch government, and the Groenburgwal in Amsterdam as a reference to the capital of the host country. The other two vases are slightly rounder in shape and have no lid. One of these vases is painted with the letter ‘W’, a crown and the coat of arms of the Netherlands. This refers to Queen Wilhelmina, the hostess of the Peace Conference. The other vase features ‘N II’, the Tsar’s crown and the coat of arms of Russia, references to Tsar Nicholas II, the initiator of the Peace Conference.

Please click on the pictures in the gallery to enlarge them.