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

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

1. Pair of vases, 1831 by Anton Kothgasser.

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6 The postures of the figures, the drapery and the position of the clouds are similar, but the eagle is put at another place. Most recent researches suggest that the prototype for the Viennese depiction is a detail of Raphael's ceiling fresco painted in 1518-19 in Rome's Villa Farnesina, Loggia di Psyche (at the intersection of ceiling and wall): Jupiter kisses Amor and whispers his desire into his ear, longing for the love of the princess Psyche. The prototype of the decoration of the other vase is not identified yet, but if the two scenes are to have some related contents, then Mihalik's version is more probable. Katona's hypothesis is unlikely because neither Pan with the flute, nor Selene can be identified with their customary attributes. The scenes were cold-painted, without firing. The reason given in the special literature is the rudimentary knowledge of creating porcelain paint in the studied period. This is contradicted by objects decorated in porcelain paint over the glaze and re-fired (cream jar and small coffee pot, MAA inv. nos. 53.2534.1 and 53.2535.1) in the same period, though they are not so subtly shaded or minutely adorned. The painter of the vases is still unidentified. As far as Mihalik knows, in the collection of the former Rákóczi Museum of Upper Hungary (today East Slovakian Museum) in Kassa there is (was?) a third vase of the same shape

37 with a single Arcadian scene in monochrome sepia colour. It is an incomplete piece, the sepia design being fired perfunctorily and only serving as the basis for further painted decoration. Besides, there is no gilding on that vessel. The influence of Viennese porcelain is obvious in the early tableware as well, in both form and decoration. The themes, 80