Wall decoration depicting an elephant - Wilhelm Schiller & Sons, circa 1900

This wall decoration was made by the Czech manufactory of Wilhelm Schiller. The artist has taken the motif of the elephant's head, individualised it and given it great decorative power through the abundance of its ornaments.

The Wilhelm Schiller manufactory started production of majolica in Bodenbach, today's Podmokly in Bohemia, in 1829 under the name Schiller and Gerbing in association with Friedrich Gerbing. The town of Bodenbach is a large centre renowned for its ceramic factories. After the first experiments with stoneware and red ferruginous clay, the manufactory devoted itself to earthenware. Their works are very varied and are inspired as well by the Renaissance as by the then fashionable 18th century rocaille. Wilhelm Schiller also draws on the English majolica with turquoise, which was fashionable in Europe in the first half of the 19th century, adopting the majolica technique developed in Minton (England) in 1851. Vases, clocks, planters, large dishes and tobacco pots make up the bulk of their production, which became very popular.

Schiller's works were a resounding success in Europe, enabling them to cross the Atlantic from 1860 onwards to conquer the American market. Gerbing was replaced in 1885 by Wilhelm Schiller's son, the factory was renamed Schiller & Sons and moved to the Obergrund district. This new factory was one of the most talented in Bohemia at the time, but the First World War was to bring it to an end.