The Porcelain Painting Puzzle

Display designer and archivist Laurie DeFazio has reset the upstairs gallery in a delightful autumn theme.

One feature is fine china with the marks of Reinhold Schlegelmilch: RS or RSPrussia for short, seen as dinnerware both in the dining room area and near the loom. The three varied iris plates near the loom were each made at the Tillowitz factory in the upper part of the German-language-speaking Silesia, a country that was taken over in the military tug-of-war between countries during the last century. The style of the marks tell us each plate was made from the 1920s - 40s.

The Tillowitz plant location was picked due to the high quality of clay nearby. Even as early as 1900, Reinhold’s fine china was reputed to be among the very best in unique or custom handmade china in Europe. Eighty percent of the plant’s production was exported to the United States.

The factory was not destroyed and continued operation during World War II, but production halted in 1945 when the Soviet army entered Silesa. Polish authorities overtook the plant in 1946. Operations did not resume until 1947.

One account says that the factory still stands, but the major product is china dinnerware. Another said that upon Russian occupation much of the equipment used to make porcelain was removed, and production changed to only making vitreous porcelain. Vitreous porcelain is fired at higher temperatures to make it less porous with a melted-glass type shiny surface. The resulting product is more durable and utilitarian: the type of porcelain used in sinks, toilets, etc. The former work was fine, delicate, and of lighter weight, and often light was visible through it.

The puzzle occurred in the porcelain hand-painting process:

Step 1

The body of the piece, in this case a plate, is first fired in a kiln to make it into a hard, porous bisque.

A. Underglaze decoration may then be applied. On our plate, that would include color and some of the stems.

B. A glaze followed.

Step 2

The glazed porcelain would then be painted by an artist of porcelain paintings with the overglaze decoration. This is when the iris would be added to our plate.

Step 3

The plate is fired again to bond the plate with the blaze.

With all the times these plates were handled, how were they able to make it through the process and be shipped? Was there some code in the drooping iris, or the missing iris? Or perhaps just a new young artist painting for the first time? Whatever the reason these plates survived, I am happy to share them with you. ~LDF