A Berlin KPM biscuit porcelain bust of Crown Prince Frederick William - image-1

Lot 237 Dα

A Berlin KPM biscuit porcelain bust of Crown Prince Frederick William

Auction 1105 - overview Berlin
21.04.2018, 14:00 - Prussia II
Estimate: 4.000 € - 6.000 €
Result: 5.580 € (incl. premium)

A Berlin KPM biscuit porcelain bust of Crown Prince Frederick William

An idealised portrait of the young Crown Prince, impressed inscription to the lower edge FRIEDR.WILH. KRONPRINZ V.PREUSSEN. Blue sceptre mark to the interior. Tip of the nose retouched. H 27 cm.
Late 1820s/1830s, modelled after the bust by Christian Daniel Rauch (1823).

Countess Elise von Bernstorff described the young prince as a highly sensitive young man, and this portrait seems to confirm her impression: “No aspect of his features or character are reminiscent of his royal father, they say that he resembles more his saintly mother… He is gracious in all that he does, in all his movements and his turns of body and phrase… I have admired his grace countless times at royal balls… even when he dances a quick waltz unbefitting to his frame and slightly too vigorous for his stature. His features are not entirely regular, but they mirror the light that radiates from his noble heart, his strong and sharp-witted mind, and the unbridled goodness of his soul.” (from the German in: Ein Bild aus der Zeit von 1789 bis 1835, Berlin 1896, vol. 1, p. 318f.)

Provenance

Purchased in 1996 from Gertrud Rudigier, Munich.
Private collection, Westphalia.

Literature

The open-breasted marble version of this portrait is kept in the Rauch-Museum (cf.: Bestandskatalog der Skulpturen Nationalgalerie Berlin 2006, vol. 2, no. 678).