Vase on a four-legged stand

The vase on a four-stem dated to 1805-1814, coming from the manufactory in Korzec, is an example of ceramics from the third period of the factory's functioning. The last phase, from 1805 to 1832, from the departure of Michael Mezer until the administration of Meraud and Petion, can be recognised by the different signatures on the products. In this period, the eye of Providence, so characteristic of the Korzec manufactory, painted initially with cobalt under-glaze, changes its colour, and the symbol itself starts to appear in different variants, rayed or without rays. Additionally, the inscription ‘Korzec’, originally placed under the eye of Providence as an integral part of the sign, with time began to appear independently.

The tureen on a quadruped, resting on a flat polygonal base, is undoubtedly part of a larger dinner service. The beautiful form of the semi-circular bowl, supported on four legs ending in lion's paws, is a typical example of forms produced in the Empire style. As a variety of late classicism developed in France, this style was based on the art of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. The ornamentation often featured sphinxes, lions, swans, eagles, trophies and panoplies, lictor’s rods, harps or lyres. Therefore, it is worth having a closer look at the vase from the Lublin Museum's collection, decorated in the imperial style fashionable at the beginning of the 19th century due to the then-prevailing cult of Napoleon, who took an honoured place in Polish patriotic mythology. The legend of Napoleon, deeply rooted in Polish culture and national consciousness, became a symbol of freedom and a reviver of dreams of rebuilding the national spirit. That is why everything imperial was so eagerly ordered and bought by our compatriots. Even Duchess Izabela Czartoryska of Puławy ordered a service similar to this one from a Korzec manufactory. As described by B. Kostuch, it was ‘[...] one of the most elegant and at the same time most modest Korzec services’.

The vessel's spout is edged with a cinnabar band with black outlines, and the bowl is surrounded by a frieze of black vines on a cinnabar background. The supports mentioned above in the finial were finished with lion's entablature, a fixed or movable handle originally placed on chests, trunks, doors or wickets.