The founder, Philipp Rosenthal, moved his porcelain painting business from Werl in North Rhine-Westphalia to Selb in Bavaria, where he was based in the castle Erkersreuth.

[3] In the period of national socialism, Philipp Rosenthal, while Catholic, had to withdraw from the enterprise in 1934 because of his Jewish origin.

[5] However, the Nazi regime did not go directly against Philipp Rosenthal in order not to jeopardise the foreign business of the company.

Rosenthal Isolatoren GmbH (RIG) was established in 1939 with branches in Erkersreuth (Selb) and Hennigsdorf near Berlin.

Rosenthal, In collaboration with industrial designers such as Raymond Loewy, Tapio Wirkkala, Elsa Fischer-Treyden, Timo Sarpaneva, Verner Panton and Luigi Colani, created an impressive series of products.

[9] In June 2008, the Waterford Wedgwood Group wanted to divest the Rosenthal share package due to liquidity difficulties.

[11] Founded on 1 August 2009, Rosenthal GmbH is an independent part of Sambonet Paderno Industrie (Arcturus Group).

The Rosenthal Archive, a collection of around 15,000 exhibits from 130 years of company history, were purchased by the Oberfranken Foundation on 12 August 2009 and is provided as a permanent loan to the Porzellanikon, the State Museum of Porcelain in Hohenberg an der Eger, Selb.