Petrus Regout (1801-1878) descended from a Maastricht merchant family that since the seventeenth century had been active in the glass and earthenware trade. After his father's death Petrus had to leave school at the age of fourteen to help his mother in the business. In 1836 he founded the pottery that was to flourish. In addition to being a versatile and energetic entrepreneur, Regout was a member of the Senate (Eerste Kamer) of the Dutch Parliament and the author of a number of brochures on social and economic issues.
At the end of the 17th century the Dutch Delft pottery industry had 45 workshops 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 factories with as few as 280 workers and by 1850 only two potteries and 76 workers remained. It was in that context that the Royal Sphinx factory was established by Petrus Regout in 1834. It was located in Maastricht, Holland. First, he started a glass factory. Two years later production of pottery began. Pottery production was initially concentrated on so called faience commune - simple pottery for a local market. Around 1840 printed decoration was introduced in Maastricht, to peak in quality as well as quantity by the end of the 19th century. This company was to become one of the most important Dutch tableware manufacturers, reaching its peak during the period between the two World Wars.
At its start, 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. Production gradually was adapted to higher standards thanks to hired British specialists to compete with popular British creamware. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Petrus Regout became well-known for its successful transfer ware copies of English, German, Chinese and Japanese tableware, most commonly in the blue and white colors popularized by the European fascination with Chinese and Japanese ceramics.
As Petrus Regout aged, his sons were incorporated into the management of the company, so that when he died in 1878 his sons continued his industrial activities. (The eldest, also called Petrus, was to become notorious for his performance before the inquiry committee surveying the working conditions in Dutch industry in 1887. His cynical statements about the working conditions in his own factories shocked many people.) The company name was changed to Petrus Regout & Co. In 1879 the image of the sphinx started to be used as a company mark and logo. Beginning in 1899 the company was called De Sphinx. In 1913, the peak year of the Maastricht potteries, Petrus Regout & Co. employed about 7,000 people. This number comprised almost 70% of the town's total industrial employment.
In the following decades the companies ran into difficulties, finally resulting in a number of mergers after the Second World War. The most important of these was the merger of Sphinx and Société Céramique de Maestricht in 1958. In 1958 the company merged with Société Ceramique and changed its name to N.V. Sphinx-Céramique, which, thanks to a royal decree, became Royal Sphinx in 1960. Sphinx stopped production of tableware in 1969. In 1994 the company was acquired by Swedish firm Gustavsberg and became NV Koninklijke Sphinx Gustavsberg. The Sphinx itself was bought in 1999 by the Finnish Sanitec. In 2010 the Maastricht plant was closed down and production moved to Swedish Sanitec plant.