CIRCA 1777, GILT A TO INTERIOR OF COVER, THE MEISSEN FINIAL CIRCA 1750

细节

A Frankenthal documentary Royal armorial pierced pot-pourri vase and cover
Circa 1777, gilt A to interior of cover, the Meissen finial circa 1750
Of ogee form with a pierced waisted cylindrical neck with three gilt scroll-moulded cartouches with a crowned lions, the body painted by Jakob Osterspey with three Muses in wooded landscapes, one seated before a column holding the arms of Bavaria, another with the crown and sceptre and the third holding a sword and the order of the XXXXXXX, within richly gilt moulded scroll cartouches and with scattered bouquets and flower-sprays, the shoulder applied with three scantily draped putti holding scrolls gilt with the inscriptions CARLO, THEODORO ELECTORI PALATINATUS; PIO, FELICI AUGUSTO BONARUM ARTIUM PATRONO and the third scroll with ...TEM, SALUTEM, UBER..., each putto flanked by applied trailing garden flowers, the circular spreading foot with bouquets and flower-sprays divided by gilt studs and lappets, th domed cover surmounted by a Meissen figure of a girl seated in a flowered dress playing the zither (one putto broken from vase and repaired, the three scrolls damaged and restored, restoration to legs of two putti and to fingers and hands, chipping, losses and some restoration to applied flowers, small extended firing crack to neck, some restoration to cover, some minor restoration and chipping to Meissen figure)
24½ in. (62 cm.) high overall

注意事项

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品专文

The present lot was without doubt made for the personal use of the Elector Palatine, Carl Theodor. He was the patron of the Frankenthal factory and it is evident from its quality that this was a major commission for him. It is closely associated with and may even be part of the same original group of objects as the pair of mirrors in the Residenz, Münich (Münich Cat. Nos. 961/962), of which one is illustrated by Hofmann, Frankenthaler Porzellan (1911), Vol. II, pl. 171, and the chandelier at Karlsruhe, also illustrated by Hofmann, ibid., pl. 168 seq. The putti on all of these pieces were modelled by Konrad Link, several of them holding similar scrolls. The present lot and the Münich mirrors aslo have similar heraldic elements. None of these pieces is marked, which would support the view that they were destined for a client who knew very well that they came from Frankenthal and did not need a mark on each piece to remind him of this fact.

In 1777 Carl Theodor left Mannheim and moved to Münich as Elector of Bavaria, where he remained until his death in 1799. It is possible that this vase and the pieces with which it would appear to be associated were made at this time.

The combination of Konrad Link as modeller, Johann Jakob Osterspey, the Frankenthal factory's most admired figure painter and the floral decoration by Andreas Handschuh emphasises the importance that was obviously attached to the conception and execution of this vase. Undated though it and its companion pieces are, it is tempting to view them as having been executed in, or around, 1777 as Carl Theodor prepared to depart for Münich. Perhaps they were conceived as a parting reminder of the skills of his factory.