Jardinier

Jardeniere The jardeniere was made in a maiolica manufactory in Nieborów. The factory called the 'Manufactory of Artistic Faience and Tile Stoves' was founded by Prince Michał Piotr Radziwiłł in 1881, on the premises of his residence. The factory director was Stanislaw Thiele, an experienced ceramic artist who had previously worked at the faience factory in Nevers, France. The manufactory in Nieborów produced a variety of decorative and utilitarian items: vases, jugs, cache-pôt pots, jardinieres, wall-hanging plates, toiletries, hanging lamps, wall tiles; it specialised in cooker tiles. The eclectic ceramics is in line with historicising trends in European ceramics of the second half of the 19th century. The forms and ornamentation were based on Italian and French maiolica and Dutch faience. The old-style forms were often combined with painting decorations on Polish themes. These were landscapes, views of famous localities, illustrations of Polish legends, images of kings and national heroes. The manufactory's prosperity period lasted until 1886, the collapse of production took place around 1889. In the collection of the Castle Museum in Łańcut, there is a set of eleven decorative maiolica, such as vases, jardiniers, cache-pôt (see B. Trojnar, Majolika w zbiorach Muzeum-Zamku w Łańcucie. Katalog Maiolica in the Collection of the Castle Museum in Łańcut. The Catalogue, Łańcut 1988). The above jardiniere is oval, with S-shaped modelled walls, supported on four volute legs and with two handles in the shape of winged goddesses Nike. It is painted yellow, green, blue and brown. The background of the base is black. On both sides it is decorated with landscape motifs in a frame of rocaille and acanthus leaves. On the one side, it is a waterside landscape with castle ruins on the shore and mountains in the background; on the other side, a landscape with a river and a boat sailing on it, with trees and a village cottage in the distance. The vase is signed with the binded monogram TS (Stanislaw Thiele) used in the workshop after 1889. Barbara Trojnar