Petrus Regout  
Maastricht, The Netherlands






 

NOTE: The reason that Petrus Regout (whose factory was located in Massstricht) is mentioned in this list of North Staffordshire potters is that he made efforts to give the impression that his ware was English. 

Some of his earlier pieces had a Stafford Knot or the British Royal Arms as a mark, he also sometimes used a diamond shape to give the appearance of the British design registration diamond.  


At the end of the 17th century the Dutch Delft pottery industry had 45 manufacturies with 10,000 workers. By the end of the 18th century, facing mounting competition from the North Staffordshire potteries, the industry had declined to 28 manufacturies with as few as 280 workers and by 1850 only two potteries and 76 workers remained. 

Petrus Regout was a Dutch industrialist, initially trading as a merchant on glass and pottery - by 1836 he had established both a glass and pottery factory in Maastricht - this grew to be one of the most important Dutch tableware producers from the latter half of the 19th century until World War II.

  • At the beginning Petrus Regout was unable to match the English ware in quality but his price was 40-50% cheaper. With the help of an English advisor and some Staffordshire potters he solved the problem of quality. 

  • As well as employing English potters Regout had the engraved plates produced in North Staffordshire - hence the Stafford knot on he earlier ware.

  • In 1899 the company, until then known under the name of Petrus Regout, was renamed 'Sphinx'. By then, the company had already been using the image of a recumbent sphinx as its logo for twenty years. In 1913, the peak year of the Maastricht potteries, they employed about 7,000 people - interestingly, at this time, although marked 'Made in Holland' one of their series of patterns was called 'Old England'  

 

Industrial Retardation in the Netherlands 1830–1850 p. 109-110; Richard Griffiths

Petrus Regout (1834-1899); Wikipedia 

 



In imitation of the English, North Staffordshire Potteries, Petrus Regout used a Stafford Knot as a mark on the back of his ware. 

 


 

The letter 'R' diamond shape (probably for Regout) but designed to give the appearance of the British Patent office design registration diamond.  

 


 


Petrus Regout plate in the Amalone
c.1862-80
Although produced in the Netherlands the transfer ware pattern was 
typical of that of the North Staffordshire Potteries of the time


PR
Prize Medal
1851
inside a Stafford Knot

'AMALONE' is the pattern name

'PRIZE MEDAL' refers to the 1851 British Exhibition

 

 

 


 

 
Petrus Regout bowl with the Stafford Knot mark shown below

 


 


Multicolor "Prattware" style plate
Original Staffordshire copper plates ordered by Petrus Regout from Maastricht in Holland

c. 1860's.


impressed mark
P Regout
Maastricht

printed mark
Petrus Regout
Maastricht
[Stafford Knot with crown]

 

 

Petrus Regout ordered his copper plates directly from Staffordshire and appears to be the only potter outside Staffordshire to apply the Prattware technique of using many different copper plates to produce multicolor patterns as seen on this plate. 

The Title of this plate is "Zeepbellen" which translates as "Soap Bubbles" - the original source of this pattern is the print titled "Blowing Bubbles" from the series "Le Blond Ovals" by G. Baxter published by Le Blond & Co in London around 1855.

 


 


transfer pattern plate with raised decoration on the rim


Royal Ironstone
S M

Mark with an impressed Sphinx (for the name of the pottery works) and a copy of the British Royal Arms. The initials 'S M' are likely for 'Sphinx' and 'Maastricht'

 

photos courtesy: Ivar Aamodt 

 


 


Dutch tableware. Blue and white transfer ware 
Royal Sphinx, Petrus Regout, Maastricht

c. 1910-20

the pattern is 'CAMBRIDGE'


OLD ENGLAND series 
'Cambridge' is the name of the pattern 

- named after one of England's ancient University Towns -

Gotheborg.com 

 

 


 


Bowls in the OLD ENGLAND series
one produced by Royal Sphinx in Holland
and one produced by Myott, Son & Co in England

Made in Holland
Royal Sphinx
Maastricht 
Cambridge
OLD ENGLAND

 


Made in England
Myott, Son & Co
Staffordshire 
Cambridge
OLD ENGLAND

 

Identical pattern produced by Royal Sphinx in Holland and Myott, Son & Co in England. 
It is probable that the pattern was licenced by Myott to Royal Sphinx and the transfer plates produced by the same engraver. 

photos courtesy:  Allá Popova

 


Questions, comments, contributions? email: Steve Birks