ManufacturerDanish
Dahl Jensen
1 active items
The porcelain polar bears, Balinese dancers, and Egyptian queens that emerged from the Dahl Jensen factory in Copenhagen's Husum district belong to a tradition that bridges the golden age of Danish porcelain and the collector's market of today. Founded in 1925 by Jens Peter Dahl-Jensen, the factory was the culmination of a career that had begun three decades earlier at one of Denmark's most distinguished porcelain houses.
Born Jens Peter Jensen in Nibe, Jutland, in 1874, the future manufacturer initially apprenticed as a joiner in Aalborg, winning a silver medal for exemplary work. But it was modelling and sculpture that drew him, and in 1894 he entered the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. After graduating in 1897, he studied further in Switzerland and Italy before joining Bing and Grondahl as a model master. There he spent twenty years (1897-1917) developing the animal figurines in underglaze-painted porcelain that established his reputation. Several of his Art Nouveau animal designs from this period remain in production under Royal Copenhagen to this day.
A stint as artistic director of the Norden porcelain factory (1917-1925) preceded the founding of his own enterprise. In 1925, having changed his surname to Dahl-Jensen, he established Dahl-Jensen Porcelainfabrik in Husum, where he would design over 280 of the factory's eventual 400-plus figurines. The production fell into two broad categories: animal figurines that continued the naturalistic tradition of his Bing and Grondahl years, and Oriental figures with deep, rich glazes inspired by Asian themes, particularly Balinese dancers, which he produced from the 1930s until the late 1950s. Crackle-glazed bowls, dishes, and vases rounded out the production.
Dahl-Jensen exported primarily to the United States and Italy, and also established a presence in Husum, Germany. His son Georg (1901-1974) continued the business after the founder's death in 1960, and the factory operated until final closure in 1985.
On Auctionist, 147 Dahl Jensen items are indexed, almost entirely ceramics and porcelain (142 items). Swedish houses dominate the secondary market: Goteborgs Auktionsverk, Skanes Auktionsverk, Bjornssons Auktionskammare, and Limhamns Auktionsbyrå handle the largest volumes. The "Egypterinde" (Egyptian Woman) figurine, model number 1123, holds the top result at SEK 12,505. Polar bear figurines and pieces by in-house designer Arthur Boesen are also regularly traded. For collectors of Danish porcelain, Dahl Jensen offers a distinctive alternative to the larger Copenhagen manufacturers, with individual character and strong Scandinavian secondary market support.