Nine pieces from the varied Zsolnay Pecs output were offered by Tring Market Auctions on October 1 - all from a vendor whose grandmother was Hungarian.
Interest in the collection emanated from Hungary, New York and London but it was a local collector who secured the most highly rated piece, this 10 1/2in (26cm) high candle holder, right, modelled as an ancient crone holding two water jars. Like all the pieces in the collection, it was modestly estimated at £400-500. Bidding climbed to £4500.
Zsolnay flexes its Pecs at £4500
RIGHT: the most desirable of the varied wares produced by the small ceramics factory established by Vilmos Zsolnay (1828-1900) in the southwest Hungarian town of Pecs are those created after the 1890s. It was then that Zsolnay perfected his iridescent Eosine glaze and employed his principal designer, Tade Sikorski.