Franz A. Bischoff 1864-1929

delicately painted with a cluster of roses and signed Franz A. Bischoff 1901.  Marked to the underside of the base with the green printed snake-monogram factory mark for Willets Manufacturing Co. of Trenton, New Jersey.

Gift to the mother-in-law of the present owner, circa 1947

Franz Arthur Bishoff (1864-1929) was born in Bomen Austria, receiving his formal art training in Vienna studying applied design, watercolor and ceramic decoration.  Bischoff emigrated to the United States in 1885 where he became a successful porcelain painter.  He worked for various firms in New York, Philadelphia, and Michigan before setting up his own studio in Dearborn around 1893 and founding The Bischoff School of Ceramic Art in Detroit.  He exhibited at both the Columbian International Exposition of 1893 and the St. Louis Exposition of 1904.  Bischoff specialized in painting flowers and was known as 'The King of the Rose Painters".  He is perhaps best known today for his California landscapes in the impressionist style.