Not everyone is lucky enough to be born rich. However, creative, persistent, diligent, educated and ambitious individuals can, for the most part, make their dreams come true. One such spectacular example is the history of the Rothschild family. By now the name has become synonymous with wealth, influence and financial power. They are the eternal symbols of secure investments and their name is recognised worldwide.

The Legend of Herend Rothschild Decor

The gilt-edged Herend Rothschild porcelain displays twelve different kinds of birds or bird couples with colourful feathers, sitting on tree branches.

Dainty pastel-coloured butterflies and bugs are scattered around the bird compositions at Herend Rothschild decor. The first creator of this composition dreamt up birds in couples or alone, sitting closer or farther away from each other, and a fine, glittering golden chain winding around the tree branches.

You may wonder why and how this piece of jewelry cluded in this naturalistic image. For the sake of completeness, the pattern has a version without the chain.

Legend has it that one day Baroness Rothschild lost her valuable necklace. She charged her maid with the theft. As she was walking in the garden one day she saw songbirds on a tree and near them she saw the lost necklace.

Mor Fischer, owner of the Manufactory, also heard this story and, rumour has it, he designed this famous decorative pattern in its memory. The Rothschild family fell in love instantly with the bird-patterned Herend porcelain, thus ordered the collection in the 1850s. The members of the Rothschild family were important Customers and “Patrons” of the Herend Porcelain Manufactory. The bird pattern was named Herend Rothschild decor (RO) in honor of them in 1861.

The secret of Herend Rothschild birds

Twelve different kinds of birds on Herend Rothschild. As if these were snapshots from nature. One of them may be a robin. No, not really. Maybe a goldcrest. And is the other a titmouse? Or a goldfinch? And the third and fourth… A finch or a lark and a warbler or a longtailed tit… You may not be able to identify them, even with an ornithological dictionary in hand. But it’s probably not the point. The subtle, intricate detail is what really represents value here.

It really does not matter if the birds depicted on the porcelain can be found in nature or not. They are the birds of the Herend Rothschild pattern. Because the Herend Porcelain Manufactory found them when Romanticism was popular all over Europe.

The Herend Rothschild Bird decoration is available in dinnerware and home décor products – all the 12 variations combines the romantic portrayal of nature, so popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the mystique of America’s moneyed aristocracy since these hand-painted naturalistically styled birds graced the tables of the world-famous Rothschild family for many years.

The brightly feathered pair of songbirds perches on the stylized branch depicted on all the dinner set pieces of Herend Rothschild Bird. The vernal design has been rounded off with small pastel-colour beetles and butterflies.

The harmonious composition of hand-painted motifs on the Herend Rothschild Bird dinnerware and giftware from Herend is an anthem to nature and a world-famous masterpiece from the Hungarian porcelain artists.