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拍品专文
For other pieces from this service see Winfried Baer, Ilse Baer and Suzanne Grosskopf-Knaack, op. cit. (Berlin 1986), nos. 212-214. For numerous other pieces from this service then still at the Neue Palais, see Georg Lenz, op. cit. (n.d.), Vol. I, pl. 15.
The design for this plate was modelled by Friedrich Elias Meyer. There are strong similarities between the design of this porcelain service that Frederick ordered and the interiors of the palace that it was used in. Friderician rococo was all-inclusive, applying to both the fabric of an interior and its moveable objects. This similarity of ornament, or gesamtkunstwerk, can also particularly be seen in the following lot1.
Frederick the Great commissioned the Neue Palais, or New Palace, in 1755, before the Seven Years' War broke out, but construction didn't begin until the end of the war in 1763. During this time his enemies had risen in number to include Austria, France, Russia and Sweden, and in 1761, when Berlin and Brandenburg were briefly taken, he appears to have seriously considered suicide. Although the palace was built against the backdrop of his astonishing victory, at a time when funds were limited it still cost a fortune to build at almost 3,000,000 thalers. Triumphant in size, Frederick remarked that the palace was an exercise in 'blowing one's own trumpet'.
Four architects were responsible for the project, but not simultaneously; Johann Gottfried Büring, Karl von Gontard (1731-1791), Jean Laurent Legeay (1710-1786) and Heinrich Ludwig Manger (1728-1790), and it was completed in 1769. The original concept of the Neue Palais extended back to Frederick's time as Crown Prince; shortly before he succeeded to the throne he had discussed plans for a Forum Fridericianum with his then intimate friend and architect Knobelsdorff. The plan was to build the Forum in the centre of Berlin on Unter den Linden; incorporating an Academy of Science and Letters, an Opera House and a new palace built round a vast square based on the Place Vendôme in Paris. Although Knobelsdorff did construct the opera house for Frederick in the 1740's, and other buildings, not originally part of the scheme were built2, the plan was never fully realised and subsequently evolved. Instead of being built in the centre of Berlin, the new palace was built in the park to the west of Schloss Sanssouci at right-angles to the principal axis through the park which led directly up to Sanssouci itself.
Büring adapted Sir John Vanbrugh's designs for Castle Howard in Yorkshire for the design of the Neue Palais. Vanbrugh's elevations were illustrated in Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannnicus in volume I (1715) and volume III (1725). Frederick owned these volumes along with Lord Burlington's Fabbriche Antiche disegnate da Andrea Palladio Vicentino (1730). As Frederick was confusingly a lover of both English Palladianism and the rococo, the Neue Palais is a confusing blend of styles. In 1763, the French architect Legeay designed the 'Communs', the extraordinarily theatrical service wing directly opposite the palace, in the Palladian style3. After Legeay left Berlin in the same year, Gontard, who had been working for Frederick's brother-in-law the Margrave of Bayreuth, arrived in Berlin and executed Legeay's design. Büring's elevations for the exterior of the palace were essentially baroque, and Gontard's 1764 designs for the interiors (including apartments for Frederick's friends and visitors who were not perceived as being important enough to stay at Sanssouci) were rococo. Oddly, Frederick ordered that the private Royal apartments were to be located in one of the wings of the building, and not in the centre as was customary for Royal apartments. Four banqueting halls were built, two on the ground floor and two on the second. Although the Neue Palais was intended as a summer palace for members of the Royal family, Frederick still preferred to spend the majority of the summer months at Sanssouci.
1. Also see lot 45, the rococo looking-glass frame. 2. A Royal library was built by Gontard on the west side of the Forum Fridericianum in 1774-80. Essentially a baroque building derived from the Hofburg in Vienna, stylistically it sat very uncomfortably opposite the Palladian simplicity of Knobbelsdorf's Opera House. 3. Gontard's pencil drawn elevation is reproduced on the end-papers of this catalogue.
The design for this plate was modelled by Friedrich Elias Meyer. There are strong similarities between the design of this porcelain service that Frederick ordered and the interiors of the palace that it was used in. Friderician rococo was all-inclusive, applying to both the fabric of an interior and its moveable objects. This similarity of ornament, or gesamtkunstwerk, can also particularly be seen in the following lot1.
Frederick the Great commissioned the Neue Palais, or New Palace, in 1755, before the Seven Years' War broke out, but construction didn't begin until the end of the war in 1763. During this time his enemies had risen in number to include Austria, France, Russia and Sweden, and in 1761, when Berlin and Brandenburg were briefly taken, he appears to have seriously considered suicide. Although the palace was built against the backdrop of his astonishing victory, at a time when funds were limited it still cost a fortune to build at almost 3,000,000 thalers. Triumphant in size, Frederick remarked that the palace was an exercise in 'blowing one's own trumpet'.
Four architects were responsible for the project, but not simultaneously; Johann Gottfried Büring, Karl von Gontard (1731-1791), Jean Laurent Legeay (1710-1786) and Heinrich Ludwig Manger (1728-1790), and it was completed in 1769. The original concept of the Neue Palais extended back to Frederick's time as Crown Prince; shortly before he succeeded to the throne he had discussed plans for a Forum Fridericianum with his then intimate friend and architect Knobelsdorff. The plan was to build the Forum in the centre of Berlin on Unter den Linden; incorporating an Academy of Science and Letters, an Opera House and a new palace built round a vast square based on the Place Vendôme in Paris. Although Knobelsdorff did construct the opera house for Frederick in the 1740's, and other buildings, not originally part of the scheme were built2, the plan was never fully realised and subsequently evolved. Instead of being built in the centre of Berlin, the new palace was built in the park to the west of Schloss Sanssouci at right-angles to the principal axis through the park which led directly up to Sanssouci itself.
Büring adapted Sir John Vanbrugh's designs for Castle Howard in Yorkshire for the design of the Neue Palais. Vanbrugh's elevations were illustrated in Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannnicus in volume I (1715) and volume III (1725). Frederick owned these volumes along with Lord Burlington's Fabbriche Antiche disegnate da Andrea Palladio Vicentino (1730). As Frederick was confusingly a lover of both English Palladianism and the rococo, the Neue Palais is a confusing blend of styles. In 1763, the French architect Legeay designed the 'Communs', the extraordinarily theatrical service wing directly opposite the palace, in the Palladian style3. After Legeay left Berlin in the same year, Gontard, who had been working for Frederick's brother-in-law the Margrave of Bayreuth, arrived in Berlin and executed Legeay's design. Büring's elevations for the exterior of the palace were essentially baroque, and Gontard's 1764 designs for the interiors (including apartments for Frederick's friends and visitors who were not perceived as being important enough to stay at Sanssouci) were rococo. Oddly, Frederick ordered that the private Royal apartments were to be located in one of the wings of the building, and not in the centre as was customary for Royal apartments. Four banqueting halls were built, two on the ground floor and two on the second. Although the Neue Palais was intended as a summer palace for members of the Royal family, Frederick still preferred to spend the majority of the summer months at Sanssouci.
1. Also see lot 45, the rococo looking-glass frame. 2. A Royal library was built by Gontard on the west side of the Forum Fridericianum in 1774-80. Essentially a baroque building derived from the Hofburg in Vienna, stylistically it sat very uncomfortably opposite the Palladian simplicity of Knobbelsdorf's Opera House. 3. Gontard's pencil drawn elevation is reproduced on the end-papers of this catalogue.