539 - Herend Four-Piece Set with Chinoiserie Brush Washer, Apponyi Green and Queen Victoria

Herend Four-Piece Set with Chinoiserie Brush Washer, Apponyi Green and Queen Victoria Porcelain, polychrome painting, gilt, glazed. Four-piece set by the Hungarian manufactory Herend. A small brush washer shows a fine figural chinoiserie hand painting: on a light green ground Chinese figures in precious robes move through a flowering landscape, surrounded by delicately dabbed floral sprigs. The oval, shaped form rises with vertical walls over an integrated foot, glazed white inside, accentuated by a gilt rim and a red foot line, with the moulded number 7964 in the base; the underside bears the mark 'HEREND HUNGARY'. In addition there are a small openwork bowl in the 'Apponyi green' decoration, a small navette bowl in the 'Queen Victoria' decoration and a matching ember extinguisher. All parts in good condition. Brush washer 6x8.5x5.5 cm (HxWxD), openwork bowl H. 4 cm and D. 9 cm, navette bowl 2.5x12x6 cm, ember extinguisher H. 5 cm. Herend, founded in Hungary in 1826, ranks among the most important manufactories of hand-painted porcelain and has cultivated figural chinoiserie decorations since the mid-19th c. in the tradition of the famous Meissen Hoeroldt chinoiseries. Hand-executed figural paintings such as that on the brush washer are among the most demanding works of the house; the brush washer itself served for washing out ink and watercolour brushes and combines decorative appeal with practical use. The 'Apponyi' decoration (Chinese Bouquet) goes back to the floral painting 'Fleurs des Indes' and was simplified around 1930 for Count Apponyi, while the 'Queen Victoria' decoration was presented in 1851 at the London World's Fair, where Queen Victoria ordered it and gave it her name. An attractive set for collectors and lovers of fine Hungarian porcelain.