A Berlin KPM porcelain plate with a cameo portrait of Achilles
Model no. 1113. Depicted facing left, with a blue cloth draped over the left shoulder. Inscribed below in Greek "AXI??EY?". Unusually decorated border with trophy still lifes and armour. Avers signature of GW Völcker 1814 under the bust. Blue sceptre mark, blue enamel dash, incised III, impressed nos., underglaze blue + in the basal ring, iron red cross. D 24.5 cm.
Painted by Gottfried Wilhelm Völcker, 1814, the gilding attributed to Louis Henri Rivet de la Grange.
The rare signature and date of this piece mark it as one of the earliest examples of cameo painting at KPM. This decor was intended to imitate classical intaglios, and the present work exhibits an incomparable fineness of decor. The depiction of the bust is characterised by an exceptional sense of depth contrasting sharply with the dark background. This effect can be seen in large layered onyx cameos such as the Ptolemaic cameo in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna which once adorned the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne.
Provenance
Sotheby´s London, 4th June 1996, lot 134.
Literature
Wittwer (ed.), Raffinesse & Eleganz, Munich 2007, no. 13.
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