Planter By Vilmos Zsolnay

Vilmos Zsolnay, Pécs – Cache-Pot with Labrador Glaze, Model 3927, circa 1900 Vilmos Zsolnay Manufactory, Pécs / Fünfkirchen, Hungary · Labrador / Eosin Glaze · Collector's Piece

A faience-porcelain cache-pot with iridescent Labrador glaze, model 3927, executed by the Vilmos Zsolnay manufactory in Pécs / Fünfkirchen, Hungary, circa 1900. Cylindrical form with slightly flared rim, sober and of absolute formal purity. Height approx. 16 cm. Under-glaze marks in turquoise green: model number 3927 · x. (variant or second quality) · 30 (diameter in mm) · 1 (colour variant or quality grade).

The Labrador glaze — the deep, dark variant of the Eosin developed by Vilmos Zsolnay with chemist Vince Wartha in the 1890s — presents on this cache-pot an extraordinary chromatic play: deep green, bordeaux, gold and touches of turquoise that shift according to the angle of light, without the red ground tone characteristic of classic Eosin. The surface, entirely without ornament, allows the glaze alone to speak — a formal radicality that anticipates the aesthetic of abstraction.

Vilmos Zsolnay (1840–1900) took over a small family ceramic workshop in Pécs in 1865 and developed one of the most innovative manufactories of the period — notably through the invention of the Eosin/Labrador glaze, first presented in Vienna in 1899–1900. Zsolnay Labrador pieces are held in the collections of the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Kirkland Museum in Denver.

We are actively seeking comparable pieces — cache-pots, vases, bowls — in Labrador or Eosin glaze with model numbers in the 3000–5000 series. If you have pieces to sell or information on comparable examples for this model, we would be delighted to hear your offer.

• Height: approx. 16 cm
• Marks: model 3927 · x. · 30 · 1 (under glaze, in turquoise green)
• Glaze: Labrador (dark variant of Eosin) — green / bordeaux / gold / turquoise
• Production: Vilmos Zsolnay Manufactory, Pécs / Fünfkirchen, Hungary, circa 1900
• Literature: Csenkey, Zsolnay szecessziós kerámiák, Budapest 1992 · Csiba / Stattner, Zsolnay. Masterpieces of Hungarian Art Nouveau, 2003 · Santi / Gacher, Zsolnay Ceramics, Atglen PA, 1998

Seen in museums — available to you.

Available for viewing by appointment at our Düsseldorf gallery.