West German Fat Lava vase with single handle (1960s)

A 1960s West German Fat Lava vase with single handle, with cream over brown glaze. No. 414-16

Height 16cm

Fat lava is the name given to a certain styles of postwar, West German art pottery, particularly from the 1960s and ’70s. The genre gets its name from the thick, encrusted glazes that typify many of these pieces, some of which look as if their surfaces are composed of frozen flows of lava in radioactive hues ranging from fiery reds to cobalt blues. While the glazes were referred to at the time as lava glazes, the “fat” designation is more recent, the result of the public’s particular fascination with pieces whose glazes are especially thick and textured.