EPIAG | Scattered Flowers with Gilt Rococo Scrollwork | Demitasse Trio | Porcelain | Czechoslovakia | c.1920s–1930s

Bohemian porcelain made in a country that existed for less than thirty years — EPIAG Czechoslovakia is one of the more quietly poignant backstamps in European ceramics.

EPIAG — the Export Porcelain Industry Association of Germany — was the administrative body that consolidated and managed the major Bohemian porcelain factories in the Carlsbad region following the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918. The factories themselves had long histories reaching back into the nineteenth century, producing porcelain of considerable quality for the European and export markets. Pieces marked Czechoslovakia date the production to between 1918 and 1945, after which the political reorganisation of the region brought further changes to factory ownership and marking. The decoration used here — scattered individual flower sprigs in the manner of Meissen Streublumen, combined with gilt Rococo cartouche work on the saucer — places this firmly within the Central European porcelain tradition that looked to eighteenth-century Dresden models throughout the early twentieth century. The warm cream ground and the particular combination of a pendant tulip, roses, pansies and forget-me-nots on the cup are characteristic of this tradition at its most accomplished.

Each cup is of a slightly flared, footed form with a moulded swirl to the lower body and a delicate scroll handle with a shaped lower terminal. The exterior carries a large hand-painted floral bouquet comprising a pendant purple tulip, an orange pansy, deep pink roses, blue forget-me-nots and small violet flowers with green foliage, positioned to one side of the cup. A small sprig of orange-red flowers appears on the opposite side. The interior carries a single small orange-red floral sprig below the rim. The rim line is gilt throughout. Each saucer has a scalloped, moulded edge with a gilt rim line and carries three individual flower sprigs — a red flower, a pink flower, and a blue flower — placed within the reserves formed by a gilt Rococo scroll cartouche that runs around the upper portion of the saucer. The centre of the saucer well is plain. The reverse of the cup carries the EPIAG Czechoslovakia shield backstamp in gold with a hand-painted number 65 in red above it.

The set is in excellent condition. There are no chips, cracks or crazing on any of the six pieces. The gilding on the rim lines, saucer cartouche work and handle is intact with no wear or loss visible.

• Maker: EPIAG (Export Porcelain Industry Association of Germany), Bohemia, Czechoslovakia
• Shape: Flared footed demitasse cup with moulded swirl body and scroll handle
• Backstamp: EPIAG Czechoslovakia shield mark in gold; number 65 in red
• Pieces: 6 — 3 demitasse cups and 3 saucers
• Material: Porcelain
• Period: c.1920s–1930s
• Decoration: Hand-painted scattered flower sprigs in the Meissen Streublumen manner — tulip, roses, pansies, forget-me-nots, violets; gilt Rococo scroll cartouche to saucers; gilt rim lines throughout
• Gilding: Gilt rim lines, saucer cartouche scrollwork, handle terminal; all intact
• Condition: Excellent
• Buyer profile: Collector of Central European porcelain; buyer seeking hand-painted demitasse cups in the Dresden tradition; collector of EPIAG or Czechoslovakian porcelain; gift buyer

Porcelain painted in the manner of Meissen, made in a country that no longer exists, surviving intact into another century — there is something in that persistence that resists easy explanation.