Table centrepiece - Writing cabinet shaped, with folding drawers

The Tata faience factory was founded by Jozsef Esterhazy of Galanta (?–1759) in 1758. Tata ware are finely modelled and painted pieces, but bear a striking similarity to Holics ware. This is because at the end of the 1760s, several fine artists from Holics moved to Tata, including the sculptor, Antal Schwaiger [Schweiger], the painter Pal Deutscher and the model maker Andras Pram. The highest standard pieces of the factory may be dated to the period 1772–1789. Departures from Holics patterns included a series of “architectural” table decorations – representations of triumphal arches, pagodas and gates – and there are also some particularly finely executed models of furniture. A rarity in the Hungarian faience collection is a type which started in Augsburg and spread through Austrian and Hungarian territory: the model secretaire. Following the proportions of the furniture, it has a lower part with wider drawers connected to the multi-drawer upper part by a low, compact element which in the original form held the fold-down writing board. It has flat side panels and front panels with sweeping curves, and the spiral top moulding, in a broken curve, is topped by a rocaille decoration. The fourteen drawers, made so that they can be pulled out, are a particular technical flourish. It is painted to imitate wood grain, and on the drawers and side panels are twenty-two different miniature landscapes painted on a white ground. In earlier publications, this table decoration was described as a jewel box, a “tabernacle-shaped cabinet” or a spice holder. Its actual function is not known. The date on the unpainted back of the object, “den Agusty/1781” is almost certainly the date of manufacture.