A polychrome Winterthur faience jardinière, Switzerland, 16th C.

Dia.: 39 cm - H.: 24,5 cm

Provenance: Tajan, Paris, 17/12/2003, Lot 65. Sold: €10.530 (link)

An interesting basin with polychrome decoration of leaves and stylized foliage. The narrow neck is decorated with 8 handles.
The relief-moulded body is decorated in blue, yellow and orange.

Marked 'PFO' for Onophrion Pfau on the base:.

Ref.: 'European Ceramic Art Dictionary', William Bowyer Honey, Faber and Faber, 1949, where he establishes the relationship between 'Habaner' ceramics of Hungary and Moravia, inspired by the late Italian majolica and the production in Winterthur, which is a 'derivative'.
The Pfau family is more famous as a producer of tiled stoves, but dishes and jugs were also made.
The mark on the base is attributed to the Pfau workshops.
See Ueli Bellwald, 'Winterthurer Kachelöfen', Bern, 1980, p. 73 and 336.