Ornamental plate - depicting Adam and Eve in the Paradise

The production of large wall plates without any decoration was probably started because of home painters. In this case, it was painted by Pál Müller (Molnár), a teacher of the Budapest Decorative Arts School. According to his widow, Müller considered this ceramic painting his most significant achievement.

The composition is arranged in the surface of the flat dish of a slightly upturned rim. It depicts Adam and Eve in the Paradise, after the Fall. The painting is romantically theatrical, presenting meticulously each little detail of the couple when they realized the consequences of their deed. The symbolic elements (a snake coiling away among thistles, the spring pouring out of rocks as symbols of sin and life), the theatrical effects of light and colours (e. g. the dark storm clouds in the sky, the „heavenly” light in the background of the landscape hanging a precarious shadow in front of the two figures) and last the expressions of the faces were all typical characteristics of contemporary painting, realized at a good level. The colours are dark and strong. Concerning the technique, the plate represents high quality among the works of „home painters". The rim of the dish enframes the picture, decorated with confronting, golden double palmet leaves, eight-pointed stars and flowers painted partly in purple and turquoise enamel against the dark red base. Their centre was decorated with yellow beads and (traces) of red beads can be detected on the golden bordering line. The rim is eclectic, with a rich, oriental-style decoration.