Wilhelm Schiller & Sons, Elephant Wall Light, Circa 1880–1890

The technique, colors, and style used for this wall light lead us to attribute the piece to the Wilhelm Schiller & Sons manufactory. The artist reinterprets the motif of the elephant’s head, individualizing it and endowing it with striking decorative power through the richness of its adornments.

The Wilhelm Schiller manufactory offers a remarkable echo of the Oriental influence that shaped the arts in Europe from the 1820s onwards. While major French and English manufactories turned their attention to the Far East—especially Japanese art—Bohemian makers such as Schiller contributed to the dissemination of a broader Oriental culture, stretching from Algeria to Japan, from Turkey to India.

With this piece, Wilhelm Schiller evokes an idealized and dreamlike elsewhere. His original creations blend vivid colors, naturalism, fantasy, trompe-l’œil effects, and technical sophistication. The brightly colored ceramic, with its striking realism, meticulously reproduces a variety of textures—elephant skin, fabric, embroidery. Schiller adapts certain iconographies with great inventiveness and, at times, a touch of humor.