Vase - With decoration imitating so-called Saracen (Arabic) silk fabric

Ceramics and Glass Collection

Accession Nr.: 20912
Manufacturer: Zsolnay factory (Pécs)
Date of production:
ca. 1895
Place of production: Pécs
Inscription: alján platinával pecsételve: öttornyos gyári jegy /
Zsolnay / Pécs felirat
Materials: porcelain-faience
Techniques: cast; painted with polychrome eosin glazes
Dimensions:
height: 20,5 cm
opening diameter: 8,5 cm
base diameter: 8,2 cm

The oriental decor – included griffins, dragons, qilin and palmette-leafs – adorning the Zsolnay vase, imitates the pattern of a 13th-century North African “Saracen” (Arabic) silk fabric preserved in the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. The ornamentation was published in Pattern Book of Friedrich Fischbach, titled Ornamente der Gewebe (Hanau 1874). (Fig. 15/B – see here and here)