OPOLE PORCELAIN
Painted Opole porcelain – origins and historical outline
From the mid-1960s onwards, painted Opole porcelain was a familiar sight in Cepelia shops across Poland. Dinner and breakfast services, vases, display platters, and various other forms adorned with multi-coloured or monochrome floral ornaments, motifs transposed directly from Opole kroszonki (Easter eggs), enjoyed immense popularity among Poles and foreign tourists alike. Between 1970 and 1990, the Opole branch of Cepelia exported a significant portion of its production abroad. But where did the idea to paint porcelain in this distinct style originate? What is the genesis of this undeniably huge success?
To answer these questions, one might well cite the popular adage that ‘success has many fathers’. The Opole region is renowned for its ceremonial folk art,
the most famous example being Opole kroszonki (krołsonki), Easter eggs decorated using a scratching (engraving) technique. To preserve this tradition, the first voivodeship kroszonki competition was organised in 1957. Prizes were awarded for works created both at home and live during the contest, with the participants being predominantly older women. In 1963, the adjudication panel included Czesław Kurek, Jan Matysek, Halina Jakubowska, and Franciszek Adamiec. During their deliberations, an idea emerged: why not transfer the traditional designs from the fragile eggshells onto a more durable material and promote them to a wider audience? The task was undertaken by ethnographer Czesław Kurek and the president of the Opole Cepelia, Jan Matysek. They invited Stefania Okos (later known by the surname Topola), a two-time winner of the kroszonki competition, to the Cepelia headquarters. It was agreed that she would conduct the first trials on semi-vitreous china (porcelite) sourced from the factory in Tułowice. Her works were then fired in a ceramic kiln at Cepelia. Soon afterwards, Róża Żymełka also joined the trials and, in addition, took on logistical matters. However, formal difficulties arose during the preparatory phase. President Jan Matysek was initially refused permission to launch production; the Cepelia headquarters in Warsaw deemed the concept of ‘scratching semi-vitreous china’ too modern a technique, lacking a genuine connection to traditional kroszonki. It was only the intervention of the eminent Polish ethnographer Professor Roman Reinfuss that altered the stance of the central office. Trials continued until March 1964, when production was officially launched at the facility on ul.
Staromiejska. In addition to those already mentioned, Gertruda Mateja participated in the trials,
while Piotr Grabowski refined the designs. The work of the decorators was initially voluntary; their ‘remuneration’ consisted of cash prizes awarded by Jan Matysek for creating commemorative platters. Initially, the patterns were transferred exclusively onto semi-vitreous china; it was not until the late 1960s that porcelain began to be used for this purpose. As production expanded, Cepelia hired more staff. During recruitment, every candidate was tasked with creating several kroszonki. This served as the basis for assessing their skills and suitability for decorating porcelain. In
1968, a department dedicated to decorating porcelain with patterns adapted from Opole kroszonki was officially opened. That same year, the first public presentation of Opole porcelain took place at the Theatre of the Opole Land (today the Opole Philharmonic) on ul. Krakowska, featuring live painting demonstrations by Maria Rudzik, Maria Kobyłka, and Stefania Okos. In the 1970s, porcelain painted by the Opole Cepelia gained recognition domestically and became a prized product abroad. The steadily growing workforce led to increased competitiveness and higher quality. The creativity and ingenuity of the employees were highly valued. The marketing strategy led by President Jan Matysek played a significant role in this success. From the late 1960s, Cepelia organised porcelain decoration competitions (later held monthly) with financial rewards. At that time, around 70–80 people were employed as painters. The decorated items were dominated by very intricate, dense, multi-coloured patterns. Over the course of the trials, the technological process was refined, and attempts were made to transfer the ornamentation onto other materials, such as glass, canvas, and wood. In 1976, the Opole Branch of the Association of Folk Artists organised an exhibition titled ‘Folk Art in the Opole Region’, which showcased, among other things, the works of Opole porcelain painters. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition poignantly described their role: “Many porcelain decorators, who once expressed themselves only on a fragile eggshell, say that their work today, so much more permanently preserved on porcelain, is what they had dreamed of all their lives. Moreover, there are those who state that it is through this creativity that they feel truly happy. Therefore, the organisers of the exhibition would like this joy, painted into the whiteness and fixed by fire, to become a broader, universal experience.” In the 1980s and 1990s, the colour scheme of the vessels underwent a certain unification. Blue and its various shades became the primary colour, supplemented by red, orange, and green, with yellow, white, and occasionally
brown completing the palette. Naturally, some artists painted in completely different colour schemes. A magnificent example was Gertruda Hurek, who brilliantly utilised warm colours: various shades of yellow, red, orange, and brown. Józef Grzesiak, meanwhile, was famous for his love of the colour violet.
Photo: The Opole Rural Museum in Opole Techniques and raw materials
The first decoration trials were conducted in 1963 by Stefania Okos. For her material, she utilised low-grade semi-vitreous china from Tułowice, salvaged from factory rejects. The artist was given a ‘Mocha’ set (six cups and saucers) that had been wet-sprayed with paint by the manufacturer. The work was carried out as a cottage industry operation. In her family home in the Grudzice district of Opole, the artist arranged the vessels near the stove to allow the paint to dry slightly. Then, using a sharpened stick, she scratched away the paint in specific areas, creating a decorative border pattern around the rims of the cups and saucers. The entire set was then fired in a ceramic kiln. Before long, specially sharpened tools began to be used for the scratching process – wooden nib holders. Eventually, the paint spraying process was moved to the Cepelia workshop, where it was managed by Małgorzata Walecko. The next stage in decorating the semi-vitreous china involved applying paints in several colours, mostly primaries, onto the scratched areas using a nib set in a holder. This made the entire composition remarkably colourful. The surface of the semi-vitreous china was sprayed with dark tones: navy blue, black, dark brown, maroon, dark green, and later, violet. This method was used mainly to produce plates, cups, and coffee sets. Most of the assortment was prepared in home conditions. The greatest difficulties arose during the transport of the scratched items to Cepelia. Frequently, the semi-dried paint would chip due to friction or shocks, leading to permanent damage. The resulting losses were quite significant, particularly as the paints used for spraying and painting were initially imported from abroad. The method of paint application was crucial: a layer applied too thinly caused colour changes during firing, whereas a layer applied too thickly would flake off, even years later. Following quality control, the finished products were placed in ceramic kilns and fired at a temperature of 750°C. The firing cycle lasted approximately 24 hours. In the second half of the 1960s, trials began on true porcelain. The base material, ready-made glazed vessels, was purchased from factories in Wałbrzych and Jaworzyna
Śląska. Initially, the scratching (engraving) technique was still employed for decoration. However, this generated a high volume of waste (approx. 30%), as porcelain accepted the sprayed paints far less effectively, and the paint chipped more easily during scratching.
Photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole
Over the course of several years of trials, a new technology was developed, which became the hallmark for producing Opole painted porcelain. Alicja Kwiatkowska recalls:
“Spraying the entire surface of the vessel with paint only to scratch an ornament into it proved too tedious, and the atomised paint was harmful to the women. So, although true works of art came from their hands, a different method had to be sought. Instead of creating a white pattern on a coloured background, we did the reverse.” They began applying coloured ornaments onto a white background. The decorators adorned the porcelain surface using a nib set in a holder. To paint the contours of the composition, the creators used black overglaze paint. For large surfaces, such as vases, the composition had to be sketched out first using a felt-tip pen. Worn-out nibs with broader tips were used to fill in the colours. During painting, the rule ‘from detail to general’ applied, starting with the centre of the flower and finishing with the edges of the petals. At the Opole Cepelia, where decorators were employed in a cottage industry system, paints were mixed with a so-called ‘balsam’, which protected them from chipping during transport.
This balsam was prepared by Alicja Kwiatkowska in a separate room or outdoors. It was produced using rosin, spindle oil, and balsam turpentine in specific proportions. Boiling balsam constituted an explosive mixture and was safe to use only after cooling. If the balsam was too thick, it caused the paint to stick to the nib, requiring the addition of a few drops of balsam turpentine. Contemporary artists do not use this specific medium, as most possess their own ceramic kilns at home. Instead, they dilute overglaze paints with balsam turpentine. Alicja Kwiatkowska was also responsible for firing the porcelain at the Opole Cepelia. This process was conducted at similar temperatures to those used for semi-vitreous china. Overglaze paints dried rapidly, allowing the painted vessels to be loaded into the kiln quickly.
It is worth mentioning a fascinating episode in the history of the Opole Cepelia: the trials conducted in the early 1970s to transfer kroszonki designs onto glassware. As with semi-vitreous china, the glass was wet-sprayed with paints, which were then scratched
with a stylus after drying. This technique yielded particularly beautiful and striking compositions with translucent sections, resembling lacework. However, during firing in the ceramic kiln, the glass frequently suffered deformation, which led to the discontinuation of further experiments.
Photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole Design and colour scheme
During the initial trials, before the decision to launch full production was made in 1964, only two-tone vessels were produced, decorated with simple motifs borrowed from kroszonki. The surfaces were spray-coated in a single colour, typically pale olive green, dark yellow, orange, red, brown, or black. Along the rim of the vessel, a single, narrow, yet distinct white floral ornament, or one or more wavy lines, would be scratched around the circumference. Over time, this single pattern began to occupy more than half of the painted surface. From there, it was a short step to filling the entire surface with motifs. Flowers and leaves on the plates took on very large dimensions. In the second half of the 1960s, the scratched patterns began to be painted over with various colours. To achieve contrast, vivid primary colours were applied with a nib onto dark backgrounds, which usually produced a very interesting effect. Eventually, Stefania Okos, who also used to scratch patterns across the entire surface of a vessel, noticed that the design would be more legible if a band of empty space was introduced between the ornaments.
This gave rise to the popular ‘border pattern’ (szlaczek). To achieve this effect, the creators would scratch a pattern in the centre of the plate and another along its edge, leaving a clear space between them. Later, the process was improved by using a paper circle template, which allowed for the precise marking of the border. Towards the late 1960s, with the commencement of painted porcelain production, vessels decorated on a white background appeared. Large, legible paintings featuring beautiful flowers and plant tendrils remained the standard. The early 1970s saw many new employees hired at Cepelia. This period marked the spread of very fine and dense designs. The painting on the vessels no longer resembled the transparent, simple patterns of the kroszonki. As Stefania Topola recalls: “When I was rehired at Cepelia, the patterns painted by the decorators were so fine that I, being unaccustomed to it, was always last in this competition. President Matysek didn't say anything to me, but I knew it, I felt that he wanted me to match their standard.” Nevertheless, the individual character of the
painting styles and colours was preserved. Shading techniques, unknown in the earlier scratching method, became widespread. White and violet were introduced to the palette of decorating colours – though violet was used rarely due to the high price of the material. In the second half of the 1970s, monochrome shaded patterns (brown, green, blue, black) appeared on Opole porcelain for the first time. In the following decade, this type of design became much more common, though it never enjoyed as much popularity among clientele as the multi-coloured porcelain. In the 1980s, the technique of spray-coating the surface and scratching it with a stylus was phased out. Items of this type were made exclusively for individual clients. As mentioned previously, Jan Matysek pursued a very deliberate policy of paying additional funds to those employed at Cepelia. This was intended to encourage greater professional activity and creativity among the staff. The production of cups serves as a good example here.
Painting a cup and saucer took much more time than decorating the surface of a plate, and consequently, fewer and fewer people were interested in this labour-intensive activity. In this case, money proved to be an excellent incentive; the Cepelia President introduced a 20% bonus for decorating cups.
Photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole
The assortment of goods produced at Cepelia at that time was very broad – ranging from dinner, breakfast, and coffee sets, through single plates, small plates, platters, mugs, cups, tankards, teapots, spice sets, and jugs, to the most elaborate decorative items. The Opole Cepelia also fulfilled individual orders, most often placed by domestic and foreign dignitaries or collectors. Stefania Topola recalls how, in the late 1980s, she decorated two vases for a North Korean delegation – one was intended for Kim Il-sung, the other for Kim Jong-il. On both, she painted the dignitaries' favourite resting places. A certain number of platters and plates were also made on the occasion of John Paul II's pilgrimages to Poland. Souvenirs related to anniversary celebrations in the Polish People's Republic (PRL) and later the Third Polish Republic were also produced.
Profiles of the creators
According to a summary prepared by Alicja Kwiatkowska, manager of the porcelain decoration department from 1971 to 2006, 270 people were employed in decorating porcelain at the Opole Cepelia between 1964 and 1994. Unfortunately,
complete data for the cooperative's final decade is lacking. The significant deterioration of Cepelia’s financial situation did not favour hiring new employees. It can therefore be assumed that throughout the entire period of over forty years of the studio's operation, first decorating semi-vitreous china and later porcelain, no more than 300 people worked there in total. Here are a few of the most distinguished and well-known figures from this vast host of creators.
Stefania Topola (born 1939), a resident of the Grudzice district in Opole, is one of the most distinguished artists for the development of porcelain decoration. It was she who was selected by the president of the Opole Cepelia, Jan Matysek, to conduct the first trials on semi-vitreous porcelain vessels using the scratching technique. She successfully adapted this technique for decorating porcelain. Among the most famous innovations introduced by Stefania Topola was the popular border pattern.
The designs she used in the scratching technique were full of references to traditional kroszonki motifs. Her ornaments are characterised by clarity of form. When painting porcelain, she often uses red and blue. She actively participates in decoration demonstrations at domestic and international events. Gertruda Mateja (1911–1988) from Raszowa, employed at the Opole Cepelia from 1964 to 1973, was another pioneer of decorating semi-vitreous porcelain and porcelain vessels using the scratching technique. Her design style was characterised by simplicity of form and a connection to traditional ornamentation. Large motifs with regular lines and beautiful colourful compositions created using the scratching technique are the trademark of this acclaimed Opole folk artist. She won awards multiple times in porcelain decoration competitions at the Opole Cepelia. Maria Kobyłka (1929–2011), who lived in Dębska Kuźnia, belonged to the group of decorators who painted the simplest and most archaic patterns on porcelain. The violet and cobalt coffee and tea sets she created are particularly beautiful. She was employed in the porcelain decoration studio from 1965 to 1979. A passionate folk singer, she often performed at weddings with a humorous repertoire. She was very well-liked by her colleagues and eagerly participated in demonstrations organised in Poland and abroad. Irena Kurek (1945–2014), a resident of Daniec, decorated porcelain from 1968 to 1978. She executed most of her products using the painting technique, although she also used the scratching technique in the beginning. She belonged to the group of older creators for whom clarity of form was more important than the density of the design, which often destabilised the composition as a whole. Her favourite floral pattern was ‘śniegulinki’ – as she used to call spring snowdrops.
Gertruda Kleman (born 1944), residing in Opole, was one of the most active porcelain decorators of the last two decades. She worked in the porcelain decoration department of the Opole Cepelia in the years 1972–1980
and 1990–2001. She participated in many domestic and international events, presenting her porcelain decorating skills. Like Stefania Topola, she often used the motif of green leaves in her ornamentation, which was much rarer among other decorators.
She created very transparent floral compositions. Maria Rudzik (1930–2016) from Osowiec decorated porcelain using both the scratching method and painting. She was employed at the Opole Cepelia from 1967 to 1981. She participated many times in demonstrations across the country. She created beautiful, legible compositions with a multi-coloured palette. Anna Skrzypczyk (1908–1982), a resident of Daniec, was one of the most outstanding porcelain decorators of the 1960s. She worked at Cepelia from 1966 to 1971. She decorated porcelain using the scratching technique and paints. She had an excellent sense of colour, creating multi-coloured compositions with huge flowers. Her combinations of primary colours on dark, monochrome backgrounds (brown, blue, black) are particularly striking. Anna Skrzypczyk was a laureate of many awards in porcelain decoration competitions. Małgorzata Mateja (born 1957), residing in Staniszcze Wielkie, was associated with the Opole Cepelia from 1983 to 2006. She learned design from recognised, older creators. In recent years, she has been one of the most active porcelain decorators. She participates in domestic and foreign events, organising demonstrations. The dominant colour on her products is blue.
Opole porcelain, Małgorzata Mateja, photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole
Rozalia Czekała (born 1948), a resident of Gogolin, is an acclaimed Opole folk artist. She worked at the Opole Cepelia from 1980 to 1993. The artist is currently involved in a project by the Gogolin Municipality to promote painted porcelain and is the artist responsible for the decorative painting on the giant teacup located in the town centre. Teresa Ozimek (born 1972), living in Kosice, is a well-known Opole folk artist of the mid-generation. She is the most awarded laureate of the voivodeship porcelain painting competition. An exceptionally talented decorator, she learned her craft in a private studio. For several years, she worked at the Opole Cepelia, honing her skills under the supervision of established artists and the head of the porcelain studio, Alicja Kwiatkowska. She was among the first artists to establish a private porcelain decoration business. Her creations are characterised by superb technique, flawless and precise linework, as well as the clarity and multicoloured nature of her compositions. She employs shading techniques in her painting, creating a stunning visual effect.
Opole porcelain, Teresa Ozimek, photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole
Alina Wypchło (born 1960), a resident of Ligota Książęca, is an acclaimed porcelain painter of the mid-generation. For several years, she was employed at the Opole Cepelia, where she learned the craft from established artists under the supervision of studio manager Alicja Kwiatkowska. She is a participant and winner of porcelain painting competitions organised by the Opole Cepelia and has taken part in numerous demonstrations and workshops both in Poland and abroad. She currently runs a private art business. She creates floral compositions painted with great lightness – seemingly effortlessly. Her flowers have slender shapes, and occasionally her compositions display an abundance of ornamentation. The artist often incorporates zoomorphic elements into her work, such as various insects and snails.
Opole porcelain, Alina Wypchło, photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole
Anna Wieszołek (born 1997), a resident of Kosice, is one of the youngest and simultaneously most talented participants in the competition. She inherited her artistic talent from her mother, the renowned folk artist Teresa Ozimek, under whose tutelage she studies porcelain painting. Together, they run a private porcelain decoration business. For a short time, she collaborated with the ‘Opolskie Dziouchy’ Foundation. Her creations, like her mother’s works, are characterised by superb technique: perfect and precise linework, alongside clear, multicoloured compositions. Her flowers and colour palette are modelled on her mother's products, though the blooms are slightly smaller and incorporate an even greater abundance of colour. Sabina Kurek (born 1982), residing in Laskowice,
is a highly talented porcelain decorator of the young generation. She learned painting from Leokadia Trebel and composition from Małgorzata Mateja. Her works are distinguished by exquisite pastel colours and a clear, light composition. She has mastered the technique of shading to perfection.
Opole porcelain, Sabina Kurek, photo: Opole Rural Museum in Opole
Ewa Sumlińska (born 1987), a resident of Ochodza, is one of the younger and exceptionally talented competition participants. She learned porcelain painting independently, guided by the advice of the well-known decorator Agnieszka Okos. She has been running an artistic business for several years and is a member of the ‘Opolskie Dziouchy’ Foundation, through which she promotes porcelain decoration. She organises painting workshops for children and adults. The artist has developed her own distinct style, featuring a large floral pattern dominated by a blue flower shaped somewhat like a boat’s hull.
She paints in beautiful, vivid colours, predominantly shades of red, orange, and yellow. Her works are meticulously developed and technically
superb. She often utilises a zoomorphic motif in the form of a cat.
Discover more about Opole Porcelain in the film prepared by the Opole Rural Museum in Opole:
Text by: Bogdan Jasiński, Opole Rural Museum in Opole