Hungarian Zsolnay Porcelain Gift Presented to the Kennedy Center

Hungarian Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi, in presence of Mrs. Katalin Péter Marosy, CEO of Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory Co., Mr. Zsolt Páva, Mayor of the City of Pécs, Hungary, and representatives of the media, solemnly presented the gift of Hungary, a highly valuable and unique Zsolnay porcelain statue, offered by the company and the city of Pécs, to the leaders of John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Ms. Claudette Donlon, Executive Vice President and Ms. Ann Stock, Vice President on Monday, July 27, 2009, 1:00pm.

Andrea Bors Somogyi, Kennedy Center Vice President Claudette Donlon, Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi, Mayor Zsolt Páva, Zsolnay CEO Katalin Péter Marosy, Kennedy Center Vice President Ann Stock

The so-called 'Queen' sculpture will be the first Hungarian piece of art that will be permanently on view along with gifts from several other countries of the world in the highly impressive building of the Kennedy Center, the largest performing art institution in the United States.

The Queen in front of Presidential Room of the Kennedy Center

The Queen from the right

The Queen from the back

The Queen from the left

The Kossuth Prize and Munkácsy Prize winner Hungarian sculptor, Mr. Imre Schrammel, member of the International Academy of Ceramics, created the ”Queen” sculpture for the commission of the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory Company in 2003, the year of the Zsolnay Double Anniversary: the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Zsolnay factory and the 175th anniversary of the birth of the factory’s founder, Mr. Vilmos Zsolnay. The physical attributes of the sculpture: 23” (height), 16” (width), 13”(depth).

Kossuth Prize winner Hungarian sculptor Imre Schrammel

According to the description of the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory Company, ’the exciting surfaces of form provide an opportunity to the Master Painters to let their artistic imagination soar freely’, at the same time to represent the design of the fantastic variations of the still unique and inimitable eosin glaze technique, patented in 1893.

Detail from the back of the Queen

Each piece of the sculpture is unique, there are no identically painted ”Queens”. The strenuous work of decorating the ”Queen” took 370 working hours. So far, only two pieces of ”Queen” have been created, the motives of both were designed and painted by Ms. Mária Magyar, a co-worker of the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory Company.

Click here to watch the video on the website of Duna TV: http://www.dunatv.hu/musor/videotar?vid=570963