A Berlin KPM porcelain plate from the mythological histories service
With gilt mosaic and floral festoon decor to the border, the centre painted with a depiction of Telemachus in iron red camaieu. Blue sceptre mark, impressed 13I. Slight wear to the gilt edging. Diameter 24.5 cm.
1783.
The third service which Frederick II ordered for Charlottenburg palace in 1783 was decorated with depictions from Ovid's Metamorphoses and the story of the mythical hero Telemachus after engravings. However, the King was not entirely satisfied with how the service turned out. The manufactory director Grieninger reported: "The King requested a dinner service painted with scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses after paintings. To this end, the King had someone sent to Potsdam and dictated everything he wanted painted. However, since the man who was sent was not knowledgable in mythology, what he wrote down was so false that nobody could recognise or decipher the King's plans from them." (cited from the German in: Köllmann, Braunschweig 1966, vol. 1 p. 306).
This piece is decorated with a depiction of the hero Telemachus inspired by engravings from the "Aventures de Télémaque, Fils d'Ulysse. Gravées d'après les Dessins de Charles Monnet Peitre du Roy par Jean Baptiste Tilliard".
Literature
Cf. two plates and other formed pieces in Köllmann, Braunschweig 1966, vol. 2, pl. 141. Further pieces from this service in the possession of the Stiftung Huis Doorn illus. in Kaiserlicher Kunstbesitz, Berlin 1991, cat. 105.