Schütz Cilli

Schütz Cilli grew out of a Moravian family enterprise. Karl Schütz acquired a pottery at Olomučany near Blansko in 1852 and transferred it in 1859 to his sons Ludwig Richard and Arnold, who traded as Gebrüder Schütz. In 1870–71 the brothers established a second factory at Petrovče, near Cilli (now Celje) in Lower Styria, partly to exploit local clay deposits. Ludwig Richard managed the Styrian works while Arnold oversaw Olomučany. The factories shared designs, molds and technical expertise before their division in 1890, when the Cilli business came under Ludwig’s separate ownership as Majolika- und Steingutfabrik L. R. Schütz. Closely related wares were produced at both locations, making factory marks particularly important for attribution.

Schütz Cilli specialized in molded majolica: wall chargers, vases, jardinières and other decorative and domestic wares, their raised ornament enlivened by carefully graduated colored glazes. Its visual language combined historicist vessel forms with the Japonist bird-and-branch compositions popular across Central Europe late in the nineteenth century. Parrots, flowering branches and other natural subjects stand in relief against densely incised scrollwork. The result belongs more to late historicism and Japonisme than to the geometric vocabulary of the Vienna Secession. The factory used impressed SCHÜTZ CILLI marks; the relationship between individual mark variants and production dates should be treated cautiously. Ludwig Richard’s death and the factory’s final years require particular care: research published by the Celje regional museum gives his death as June 1, 1919, identifies Marie Charlotte Lobe-Schütz as managing the business by 1913, and records a transfer of ownership in 1922, followed by production under the name Majolika Celeia. The works subsequently became part of the Liboje ceramic industry, nationalized in 1946.

The Bestiaire’s two large Schütz Cilli parrot chargers, both impressed with the factory name, pair a perched bird with one in flight. Their modeled plumage, pink blossoms and pale scroll-covered grounds exemplify the manufactory’s shaded relief technique. They also invite comparison with the collection’s later Serapis-Fayence bird plates designed by Karl Klaus for Ernst Wahliss: two Central European treatments of birds on either side of the Secession, one naturalistic and Japonist, the other more geometric. The Cilli pair offers a distinctive Slovenian counterpart to French bird-decorated faience.