14 JUNE 1887, PRINTED BLUE AND IMPRESSED ZSOLNAY PECS FACTORY MARKS, INSCRIBED IN BLACK WITH JSZ MONOGRAM, 1887/14 JUNI BELOW FURTHER INSCRIPTIONS RELATING TO THE DESIGN AND COLOURS USED

This impressive pair of documentary chargers were painted by Julia Zsolnay, daughter of the factory owner Vilmos Zsolnay. Julia became a designer and painter at the factory and these chargers form part of her early experimental production. The fascinating inscriptions on the reverse of each charger appear in Sütterlin, a German historical style of script. They record various designs which appear on the dish (such as flowers, leaves, hair, dress, water etc) alongside the colours used for each of these and a series of numerals which were presumably the chemical code for each colour. Julia became an established artist in her own right, becoming a member of the Hungarian Fine Arts Society and exhibiting at the Art Society in Vienna. The Zsolnay factory are celebrated for their innovative glazes, having exhibited at world fairs and international exhibitions, including the 1873 World Fair in Vienna and the 1878 World Fair in Paris where they received the Grand Prix.