Bertil Vallien (1960) Bagdad from Gustavsberg
Bertil Vallien’s "Bagdad" (Baghdad) series is one of his most famous pottery series. It was designed in 1960 at the Gustavsberg factory in the Stockholm archipelago. Find your favorite among Bertil's Bagdad houses or learn more about them in our overview.
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An Overview of Bertil Vallien’s Bagdad Series
Bertil Vallien is mainly associated with his internationally recognized sand casted glass art. But he first started out as a ceramist at the art school Konstfack in Stockholm in 1955. From time to time, he has since designed for ceramic factories in both Sweden and the United States.
One of the most well-known of these series is "Bagdad" from the Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory. The series was designed in 1960 and then manufactured in 1966–1970. It consisted of seven imaginative houses such as a mosque, temple, and tower.
The figurines were made of stoneware with hand-painted decoration. Houses 5 and 6 were made of white stoneware, while the others were made of chamotte (brown) stoneware. Many of the houses have several color schemes.
The undersides of the houses are stamped with "Gustavsberg, Bagdad, BW (Bertil Wallin)" and the house number (1-7). Bertil would later change his surname to Vallien because there was a Swedish silversmith named Wallin.
Which of the Bagdad houses is your favorite?
House 1. Height 11 cm / 4.3 in.
House 2. Height 18 cm / 7.1 in.
House 3 Height 12 cm / 4.7 in.
House 4 Height 15 cm / 5.9 in.
House 5. Height 13 cm / 5.1 in.
House 6. Height 16 cm / 6.3 in.
House 7. Height 18 cm / 7.1 in.
Stamped underside with chamotte stoneware (left) and white stoneware (right)
Bagdad ad from Gustavsberg
Visit the page with all our objects by Bertil Vallien.