A Group of Three Painted Terracotta Pugs with Sulphide Eyes

This group brings together three painted terracotta pugs with “crystallo ceramie,” or “sulphide” eyes, two of which are closely related, sharing identical dimensions and the same seated posture — though one of the two differs by a slightly darker patina. The third, rarer than seated or standing subjects, is shown reclining, and stands apart from the pair both in pose and in scale.

The resemblance of such sculptures to the animal figurines of Friedrich Goldscheider long lent credence to an Austrian origin. The use of “crystallo ceramie” for the eyes, however, together with the existence of similar dogs bearing the mark of Johann Maresch (1821-1914) — a Bohemian ceramist whose manufactory was active in Ústí nad Labem, near the current German-Czech border — points instead to a Czech origin.

The use of “crystallo ceramie,” or “sulphide”, that is the incrustation of a ceramic form within molten crystal or glass — indeed reflects established glassmaking practices in Bohemia, where the process had been experimented with as early as the late 18th century. That the Kingdom of Bohemia belonged, until the early 20th century, to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, may partly explain the Viennese reputation attached to these objects.

The three sculptures may be sold separately.