Meissen Expert Advisers Statement.Pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Brief Description of Item[from the vendor’s description] A Meissen Böttger stoneware figure of ‘Pulcinell’, from the Commedia dell’arte, partly polished and with original colouring. 16.4cm high, 85.cm wide, 8.2cm deep. Circa 1710-13 ‘Some surface wear to the colours, slight crack in upper right arm’. 2. Context Provenance: English private collection [to be confirmed by the Arts Council]. Exhibition History: n/a? Bibliography/ literature: [on the handful of related items, as this piece seems to be a new discovery] Willi Goder, Klaus Hoffmann [et al.].Johann Friedrich Böttger : die Erfindung des Europäischen Porzellans /Stuttgart, , 1982, p.251. The assessor has used the French edition of 1984 Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked; The commedia dell’arte and porcelain sculpture, Yale University Press, 2001, p.163 3. Waverley Criteria This figure meets both Waverley Criterion 2 and 3. In its contraposto pose and superior modelling [probably by a German court sculptor], the figure has an excellent claim to be considered of outstanding aesthetic importance, thus meeting the Waverley 2 criterion. It is from a factory which is regarded as one of the leading 18th century ceramic factories, not least because it has the reputation of being the first factory in Europe to make true hard –paste porcelain like the Chinese. There are of course Meissen figures in British collections, but almost invariably of the later enamelled porcelain body, and not of this early experimental ‘stoneware’ body. In subject matter it is the very first of what became a recognized genre: the commedia dell’ arte figure, leading to the porcelain figures of Harlequin, Columbine, Pantaloon etc of the mid to later 18th century , thus fulfilling the criterion set out in Waverley 3. In the opinion of the assessor, the United Kingdom has good but not outstanding collections of Meissen porcelain and stoneware in a number of institutions, but relatively little of the ‘top’ class that circulated amongst the crowned heads and top aristocracy of Europe in its early days [the Hanbury Williams service of 1748-50 at Alnwick Castle is perhaps the exception that proves the rule]. The assessor believes that, in general, British collections are weak in those items of elaborate design, craftsmanship, ingenuity and skill that represent the very best of royal patronage or ‘princely magnificence’ that can be seen to best advantage in the former royal palaces of Vienna, Munich, Russia, and Dresden. DETAILED CASE 1. Detailed description of item if more than in Executive Summary, and any comments Meissen porcelain is renowned across Europe as being the first, and for some the best, true ‘hard-paste’ porcelain factory in 18th century Europe. It was an aspect of court culture of the day, when the rare, fragile and translucent material of porcelain imported from China and Japan was a source of wonder to kings, princes and aristocrats across Europe. Some of them attempted to replicate this body in a somewhat different body [artificial or ‘soft paste’ porcelain], but the lead in discovering the secret of true or ‘hard-paste ‘ porcelain like the Chinese is generally given to the King of Saxony and Poland, Augustus the Strong. Certainly it was the first European manufacture to create and sell the true hard-paste body in any quantity across Europe. However its production was preceded by the creation and manufacture of a very fine high-fired earthenware or ‘stoneware’ by the skilled workmen who worked for the King, which is always discussed first in any history of the Meissen factory. Augustus had employed the scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (1651-1708), who knew the Delftware factories in Holland and had visited the soft-paste porcelain factory at Saint Cloud in 1701. More prominence is generally given to his assistant, Johann Friedrich Böttger (1682-1719), an alchemist who had escaped from the custody of the King of Prussia, and was similarly confined by Augustus the Strong in the castle of the Albrechtsburg in the town of Meissen on the outskirts of Dresden, as an assistant to Tschirnhaus. Although the scope of their operations is still unclear, in 1707, Tschirnhaus and Böttger had succeeded in producing a very hard red stoneware today called ‘Böttgersteinzug’ of great beauty, similar to Chinese red stoneware, which could be cut and polished on the wheel, like glass or precious stone or marble. Its commercial possibilities were immediately perceived and in 1708 a factory was opened in Meissen with the help of 'Dutch masters and potters' from Amsterdam. It produced a wide number of very fine pieces, most notably items for tea and coffee drinking, as well as decorative vases and figures copied from Chinese originals in Augustus' collection. Some models based on metalwork prototypes were designed by the Court goldsmith Johann Jacob Irminger (died c.1726), who made models in copper in his studio in Dresden which he sent to Meissen. Some pieces were gilded and painted by the Court painter Martin Schnell, who appears in the list of staff and wages of 1712, in the style of oriental lacquer . Its production is believed to have ceased soon after the creation of true white porcelain by Böttger in about 1710, though some revivals were made in the 20th century. 2. Detailed explanation of the outstanding significance of the item This piece is exceptional in the study of Böttger stoneware in that 1] it is a figure, not a vessel and 2] it retains its unfired or ‘cold’ colouring that seldom survives through the centuries. According to Xenia Ressos in the catalogue ‘Meissen Barockes Porzellan’ Cologne, 2010, p.66, the first Böttger figure known today is a brown stoneware copy of a Chinese figure of the Goddess Guanyin of about 1709-10, though there is an archival record for paying the sculptor Paul Heerman for three figure models in 1708 [their subject is unknown]. The figure under discussion is one of an extremely rare group of models after the Italian ‘comedia’ dell’arte’ for which the factory at Meissen subsequently became famous [in enamelled white porcelain]. Six different Böttgersteinzeug commedia dell’arte figures survive in the museum at Gotha, having been listed in the royal inventory above the ‘Steinschrank’ or case of semi precious (?) stones in the royal museum or treasure house [the Kunstkammer] in 1721, with the note they were acquired in 1712 by Duke Frederick II of Saschen- Gotha – Altenberg [their polished surface of course gives them [superficially] the characteristics of lapidary work on stone]. However, in this early depiction, we should note the liveliness in its modelling and depiction and the tiny element of caricature creeping into the figure, suggesting a certain ‘abrasiveness’ in personality and character that is less apparent in the later models. Recent research suggests the six figures are by different sculptors, this model being attributed to Balthasar Permoser by Meissen specialist Ingelore Menzhauen [‘das rothe [sic] und das weise porzellan’ in Willi Goder, Klaus Hoffmann [et al.].Johann Friedrich Böttger : die Erfindung des Europäischen Porzellans Stuttgart, 1982] These figures form an almost unique group, though they have no overglaze or coloured decoration. Meissen Böttgersteinzeug figures are rare, especially with colouring. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a figure from this group of Brighella on a stand , attributed to the sculptor Benjamin Thomae (1682–1751) [Metropolitan Museum no.54.147.66] he modelling of the model under review is attributed to the court sculpture Balthasar Permoser (1651-1732), whose skills were available to the new royal factory. He is best known in England for his skills in carving ivory [two signed figures at Harewood House, Leeds]. To the assessor’s knowledge, only one other coloured figure of this model is currently known, in the museum at Frankfurt, and given a full page colour illustration in the standard book on the subject. This figure is thus more or less the first of its kind, the progenitor of the numerous Harlequins and other commedia dell’arte figures are seen as so typical of 18th century porcelain. The artistic and cultural significance of the group of six figures is discussed in Meredith Chilton, Harlequin Unmasked; The commedia dell’arte and porcelain sculpture, Yale University Press, 2001, p.163. She says in her chapter entitled ‘The Court’ ‘the first commedia figures made at Meissen were created from the red stoneware that Böttger called ‘Jasper porcelain’, because it so closely imitated the semiprecious stone. This hard, fine-grained material was particularly suited for modelling; it could also be cut on a lapidary wheel or burnished to produce a high sheen. Between 1710 and 1712, six important sculptures were made, each representing a figure from the commedia dell’arte. It was the first major series of sculptures made at Meissen. These commedia figures also mark the beginning of a long tradition at Meissen of taking inspiration directly from engraving [she then illustrates the dependence of the figure of ‘Pantalone’ on an engraving by Robert Boissart from ‘Mascarades’ of 1597. Her book then goes on to consider the numerous porcelain commedia dell’arte figures made across Europe in the later 18th century, and their relationship to the pantomime and court festivities]. As stated, the assessor believes that there are good but not outstanding collections of Meissen and other German porcelain in a number of British institutions [the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, The Ashmolean Museum, the Bowes Museum, the [Cecil] Higgins Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the national museums in Cardiff and Edinburgh]. They all have a good range of 18th century pieces, with some exceptional items within this group. Böttgerware figures are very rare; a privately-owned figure of August the Strong at Chatsworth was published as a separate article by the late T.H.

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