A Painted Reclining terracotta pug With Sulphide Eyes

A reclining, painted terracotta pug
Terracotta and sulphide
Czechia
Late 19th century
32 x 78 x 32 cm (12.6 x 30.7 x 12.6 in)

Rarer than seated or standing subjects, this reclining pug in painted terracotta belongs to a group of objects whose resemblance to the animal figurines of Friedrich Goldscheider long lent credence to the notion of an Austrian origin. The use of cristallo-cérame for the eyes, however, together with the existence of similar dogs bearing the mark of Johann Maresch (1821-1914) — a Bohemian ceramist whose manufactory was active in Ústí nad Labem — points instead to a Czech origin.

The use of cristallo-cérame, or “sulphide” — the incrustation of a ceramic form within molten crystal or glass — indeed reflects established glassmaking practices in Bohemia, where the process had been experimented with as early as the late 18th century. That the Kingdom of Bohemia belonged, until the early 20th century, to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy may partly explain the Viennese reputation attached to these objects.