Jardinier

Jardiniere The jardiniere was made at the 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 pear-shaped modelled walls, supported on four volute legs, with two handles in the form of double and S-shaped flower stalks growing out of plastic mascarons. It is painted yellow, green, black, light and dark blue, rust. The background of the belly is black. On either side of the jardiniere, among the flowered floral thread, there are two decorative cartouches in neo-Rococo frames depicting a hunt 'par force'. Against the background of a plain landscape three riders in hunting outfits are depicted on galloping horses, dogs chasing a deer are in front of them. On the opposite side of the jardiniere there is a similar scene. The decoration of the vase was made by Feliks Szewczyk, a talented and most active painter employed at the Nieborów workshop until 1885.