Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)

Diána RADVÁNYI: The Early Products and Brief History of the Porcelain Factory of Regéc

6. Ornamental plate with a landscape

, 1845 (MAA inv. no. 2767) domed lid has a flat knob. The portrait in brown - probably painted after an engraving - has the inscription: "Prince Ferdinánd Bretzenheim / founder and owner of the Porcelain Factory of Regéc" below it. (fig. 4) The rims and knob are gilded and the entire vessel outside the portrait is adorned with a sumptuous pattern of gold tendrils. In Mihalik's view it is "a masterpiece made for the industrial exhibition of 1846 in Kassa",

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1 while Molnár thinks it was shown at the Pest exhibition.

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2 The prototype for the portrait is not known but that of the other portrait showing Archduke Stephen on a plate also signed by the painter "Paulus" is. (fig. 5) The relatively small but sublime plate with a wavy brim has the portrait of the archduke, also is amidst a golden grid on a brown ground, on the brim. Mihalik opines that the plate was painted "in commemoration of the regent's visit to Sárospatak in 1847". Mihalik also notes that "the prototype for the depiction was probably Joseph Bekel's engraving of 1847 multiplied as a lithographed print and published in Prague".

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3 Some Regéc porcelain pieces feature finely painted landscapes without the painter's signature; they must also have followed Viennese models. One of them is a plate whose brim is adorned with a broad mat pink band between thin gold lines and there is an idealistic landscape also framed by a gold line in the bowl, with a smoking vol85