A rare early Meissen teapot with lacquered decor
Red Böttger stoneware with dark brown glaze, painted and powdered lacquer decor in gold and red. Of octagonal section with eagle's head spout, scrollwork handle, and original lid with a stylised foliate finial. Decorated to all eight facets with Oriental flowers alternating with a seated Chinese man and a running monkey. The spout issuing from a relief mascaron, the facet beneath the handle decorated with a crowned cartouche motif. The edges with scrollwork borders. The underside and basal ring gilt, unmarked. Handle reattached, the piece connecting the pot to the spout cracked at the level of the mascaron, the tip of the finial retouched. H 10, W 16.8 cm.
Ca. 1710 - 15, model attributed to the court goldsmith Johann Jakob Irminger, decor attributed to Martin Schnell.
In this item, we are lucky enough to see an example of exceptionally well-preserved lacquer décor attributed to the Dresden court lacquer painter Martin Schnell. He sent convincing samples of his skills to the Saxon King Augustus II in 1703, and was officially employed on 22nd January 1710. He was mainly engaged in painting the lacquer décor of the King's ambitious building projects, but was also employed by the porcelain manufactory from around 1711 - 1715. There he received the highest level of payment possible, more than double that received by the inventor of the porcelain mass, Johann Friedrich Böttger.
This model is described in the archives as an eight-sided teapot and must have been produced with relative frequency, as many examples are recorded in Böttger's estate upon his death on 13th March 1719. The manufactory offered this vessel in several versions: One in unglazed red Böttger stoneware with polished elements; one with additional gilding; one with black lacquer. This décor, with opulent coloured and gold lacquer, is only preserved in very few examples and was presumably intended for the use of the royal court.
Provenance
In Continental family ownership since 1884 (outside of Germany).
Literature
An identical teapot formerly belonging to the List Collection, Magdeburg (sold by Lange, Berlin, 1939, lot 670) and in the Hans Syz Collection (in Rückert et. al., Washington 1979, no. 13).
This model published in Claus Boltz, Steinzeug und Porzellane der Böttgerperiode – Die Inventare und die Ostermesse des Jahres 1719, in: Keramos 167/168/2000, illus. 135, p. 127, 13.14. DSL 14 „1 achtpassigtes TheeBotgen mit der Adler Schnautze“.
For the archival records cf.: Haase, Bemerkungen zur Dresdener Lackierkunst, in cat. Sächßisch Lacquirte Sachen, Münster 1998, p. 11 ff.