Although not marked as such, this vase has all the hallmarks of the firm Scheurich Keramik which started production in 1954, rather later than most of its competitors, but soon became the largest producer of commercial art pottery in Germany. Their pieces rarely carried the factory name but usually the model number followed by the height in centimetres with ‘W.Germany’ below, as here. The pattern here is one of Sheurich’s most popular designs and is known as the ‘Amsterdam’, or more colloquially ‘onion’, pattern, taking its name from the repeating tulip bulb forms which constitute its main feature. It was designed in 1972 by Oswald Kleudgen, the single most important designer of glazes and decors at Scheurich, who joined the firm in 1955 and worked there until his retirement. Found in a variety of colour ranges the ‘onion’ pattern works perhaps best on the mustard ground such as is used here. Dating is to the 1970s.