Herend Porcelain Factory, Herend (under Jenő Farkasházy-Fischer)

The Herend works was founded by Vince Stingl in 1826. In its first period (1839–1874) led by Mór Fischer, it flourished and met with international success, but then sank into insolvency. In 1896, Fischer’s grandson Jenő Farkasházy-Fischer (1863–1926) bought out the business – by then the company Herendi Porcelángyár Rt. – from the Hungarian government. Having studied ceramics in Paris, Germany and England, Farkasházy-Fischer worked as artistic director of the Ungvár Porcelain Works between 1893 and 1896, and then remained head of the Herend company until his death in 1926, first as executive proprietor and, after reorganisation as a public company in 1923, as artistic chief executive. His initial aim was to win back the customers from the upper echelons of society whose custom had been so important to the company in the years prior to its insolvency. His first act was to resume the manufacture of individual, high-prestige artistic work that had characterised the period of Mór Fischer. He then extended the product range with small ornaments and statues, and as the Hungarian Millennium approached, the company started making porcelain with distinctively Hungarian motifs. This was followed, at the turn of the century, by ornamental porcelain in the Art Nouveau spirit, and the company adopted or rediscovered old techniques such as the delicately modelled pâte-sur-pâte decoration and special crystal and reduction-fired glazes of Far Eastern inspiration. In 1897, with state support, the company launched its own apprentice training, with scholarships, to educate potential sculpture and painting employees to a high level. In the years around the turn of the century, the artistic products of Herend porcelain, under the new proprietor, achieved several international successes. At the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, Herend ornamental bowls and vases decorated with coulé (run glaze) and páte-sur-páte techniques won a gold medal, and at the international applied arts exhibition held in St Petersburg in 1901, Herend pieces met with universal acclaim. Farkasházy-Fischer again brought home gold medals from the world’s fairs in St. Louis in 1904 and in Turin in 1911.

Despite its artistic successes, the factory was severely affected by the social and economic changes and crises of the early 20th century and the aftermath of the First World War. In 1923, the porcelain works was relaunched as a public company with the involvement of the banks Lloyd and Mobil, providing considerable capital for the following years. Although Farkasházy-Fischer retained his leadership, the post of chief executive was given to Dr Gyula Gulden, who remained in position – taking overall control after the death of Farkasházy-Fischer – until the company was nationalised in 1948.