Vase

A decorative vase (from the pair) The vase 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 vase, as mentioned above, has a slender, egg-shaped body on a low leg and round foot, passing into a tapering neck. The two high handles in the shape of a serpent's sigmoid are characteristic. On the light-yellow background, rich ornamental decoration in vivid colours: yellow, green, navy blue, blue, rust and black contours. The symmetrical composition of twisted acanthus leaves, flowers and pearls are on both sides of the bowl. Fastened at the bottom with a mascaron, it forms a frame for the centrally placed medallions with monochromatic dark-purple landscapes. On one side, there is a river landscape with a country cottage, on the other, a putto sitting on the grass playing the tambourine. The decoration of the vase was made by Feliks Szewczyk, a talented and most active painter employed at the Nieborów workshop until 1885. His initials FS are painted at the bottom of the painting with the playing putto and inside the vase, under the spout, where the monogram MPR (Michał Piotr Radziwiłł) is also painted, under the ducal mitre. Barbara Trojnar