A Niedermayer porcelain cup with a portrait of Archduchess Maria Ludovika
Bombé form cup with tall scroll handle and original saucer. Decorated with a finely painted bust in an oval reserve depicting the later Empress facing right and dressed in a high lace collar, red trimmed chemise dress, and pearl hair accessories against a bluish grey ground. The upper section of the cup and border of the saucer with bands of stylised rosettes and foliage. Blue bindenschild mark, year stamp 808, potter's no. 59 for Joseph Rammersberger, 25 and 60.
Vienna, Niedermayer manufactory, 1808.
Maria Luigia Beatrice d´Este (1787 - 1816) married Emperor Franz I of Austria on 6th January 1808. The Emperor was 19 years her senior and already a widower. Her name was changed to the more German-sounding Maria Ludovika after the marriage. This portrait depicts her as a young bride of 21 years around the time of her wedding.
Literature
Wittwer (ed.), Raffinesse & Eleganz, Munich 2007, no. 7.
Exhibitions
Raffinesse & Eleganz - Königliche Porzellane des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts aus einer amerikanischen Prrivatsammlung, Berlin, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Schloss Charlottenburg, 28th July - 4th November 2007
Die Sammlung Cohen. Porzellane der grossen Manufakturen 1800 - 1840. Wien, Liechtenstein Museum, 16th November 2007 - 11th February 2008
Refinement & Elegance - Early 19th-Century Royal Porcelain from an American private collection, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9th September 2008 - 19th April 2009