The name Royal Bayreuth has always attracted the attention of discerning collectors and homeowners. Despite the interruption of war and destructive fires, the manufactory has maintained continuous production of porcelain of the highest quality since 1794.

In recent years, the name of Royal Bayreuth has come to be associated with expensive and highly collectible porcelain novelties and character pieces such as Rose Tapestry and Sunbonnet Babies. However, the reputation of the company was established with a line of exquisite hand decorated porcelain at least the equal of, if not superior to, that of the Meissan factory.

In 1794 production began in Tettau, Bavaria, utilizing a crew of skilled artisans and workers who were to draw upon the best examples of European and Oriental porcelain. Their market consisted of the wealthy of Europe, who sough to decorate their manors and townhouses with delicate porcelains.

The first generation of Bayreuth wares were very similar in style and decoration to those being created at Meissan and Sevres. Figurines were done in both white and with full-blown hand-painted detailing. Some of the most desirable of these early pieces were monumental in scale, such as punch bowls and epergnes flanked by figurines. The style was full of detail and saccharine elements suggestive of the French court painters. Dinner services were of the finest quality and exhibited a range of style and decoration from the Oriental influence, to Delft to the florid court themes.

A fire destroyed the original factory during the 1800s and with it came the end of the first period of porcelains. Most of the early wares of Royal Bayreuth are very scarce today and bring prices in the thousands.

The Royal Bayreuth that so many dealers and collectors have come to know and love is a product of the Victorian tastes of the late 19th century. Like so many porcelain manufacturers of the period, Royal Bayreuth discovered that survival meant maintaining standards of quality in production and artistry but compromise in certain areas of creative integrity in order to appeal to the export market. Exports were the lifeblood of all the porcelain manufacturers of Europe and being successful in that fickle market meants selling out to the popular taste of the era.

The vast majority of Royal Bayreuth items which come on the market today were manufactured after 1890 and it is easy to spot them when compared to other wares of the period. Although the manufacturer gave in to the florid taste of the time, the quality of the porcelain and all the hand-painted decoration were always superior. Decorative themes were in style but never hackneyed. Novelty pieces, while appealing to popular taste, were never cheap or gimmicky.

Among the most consistently popular of the lines of dinnerware put out by Royal Bayreuth was the Rose Tapestry series, which featured a matte finish, handpainted roses of varying colors and extremely fine porcelain. Rose tapestry pieces are collected on their own merit and simply as assemblages of dinnerwares. As a matter of fact, Rose Tapestry pieces have become so expensive that it would be very costly to buy or assemble a complete dinner service. There are several variations of decoration in Rose Tapestry, but the most frequently seen are the pink rose, yellow rose and the three-color.

Particularly appealing to many collectors are the Royal Bayreuth figurals which feature unusually well defined shapes combined with fine hand-painted surface decoration. Among the wide range of figurals are such unusual items as pitchers in the form of alligators, bulls, apples, monkeys, robins, bears, eagles, penguins, lobsters and many other unusual animals. Other forms include a wide variety of flowers, fish, fruit, birds and dogs. Besides the pitcher, these figurals were produced in teapots, creamers, humidors, cracker jars, sugar bowls and shakers. Most of the figurals are getting hard to find in perfect condition and prices are generally in the hundreds of dollars.

Some people are especially fond of the character and series wares of Royal Bayreuth. Best known in these lines are the Sunbonnet Babies, Snow Babies, Beach Babies, Nursery Rhymes, Brittany Girls and the Devil and Cards. Most of these series wares were produced in a wide range of wares in order to create a demand for continuing purchases of the pieces. The Sunbonnet, Snow and Beach Babies are particularly charming in their depiction of cute young children frolicking in the show or at the beach. Generally collectors attempt to find an example of each form produced in a particular series. Again this can be an expensive undertaking because each individual itme in the Royal Bayreuth series lines are frequently more than $100.

The enduring value and appeal of the wares of Royal Bayreuth seems to lie in the fact that the manufacturer managed to create unique pieces of the highest quality while maintaining demand based on popular Victorian themes.

Robert Croul, the NEWS’ antiques columnist, lives in Newburgh.