A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-1
A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-2
A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-3
A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-4
A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-5
A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-6
A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-1A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-2A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-3A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-4A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-5A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds - image-6

Lot 596 Nα

A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds

Auction 1107 - overview Cologne
15.05.2018, 11:00 - Decorative Arts
Estimate: 20.000 € - 30.000 €
Result: 28.520 € (incl. premium)

A pair of Meissen porcelain snowball flower vases with birds

Baluster-form vases on flared bases, fired in three parts and screw-mounted. With original lids. Incrusted with tiny flowers, branches, and snowballs. Large orioles and swallows perch on the shoulders, two goldfinches on each lid. The lower pierced nodus containing a canary. Blue crossed swords marks, model no. 2774, green painter's mark "Da.." Four beaks restored, some tail feathers, losses to the branches and leaves. H 52.4 and 51.5 cm.
2nd half 19th C., after a model by Johann Joachim Kaendler, ca. 1760.

Johann Joachim Kaendler first realised the idea of incrusting porcelain vessels with snowball flowers in May 1739, the first item he created being a teapot covered in snowball flowers with leaves and branches (Arbeitsberichte, Leipzig 2002, p. 62). It was such a revolutionary idea that Frederick II of Prussia ordered numerous vases in the design for the Neues Palais in 1762, where they can still be admired in the Fleischfarbenen Kammer to this day.
This vase form, with large sculpted birds and a pierced basket-form nodus, was reproduced in the 19th century. Such pieces are difficult and time-consuming to make and risky to fire, requiring extreme precision and experience. Today, they are still considered masterpieces of Meissen's production, as they were in the past.

Provenance

Continental family ownership.