A Berlin KPM plate with botanical decor - image-1
A Berlin KPM plate with botanical decor - image-2
A Berlin KPM plate with botanical decor - image-1A Berlin KPM plate with botanical decor - image-2

Lot 53 Dα

A Berlin KPM plate with botanical decor

Auction 1125 - overview Berlin
07.11.2018, 18:00 - The Twinight Collection I
Estimate: 3.000 € - 5.000 €
Result: 10.000 € (incl. premium)

A Berlin KPM plate with botanical decor

Model no. 1113. Decorated to the centre with a botanical motif inscribed to the underside "Loasa Ranuncolifolia. Caaxamarca; Andes du Pérou.". Bordered by gilt palmettes and a trailing design of the same plant. Blue sceptre mark with blue dash above, impressed 25, incised III. D 24 cm.
1803 - 13, presumably after a motif by Pierre Jean François Turpin.

This plate was made in connection with the order for the French Empress Joséphine which KPM produced between 1806 and 1807. The centres of each of the plates were painted with a naturalistic flower based on contemporary botanical prints in the highest quality the manufactory could achieve. The borders were painted with classical ornaments on chamois coloured ground. The undersides of the plates are all inscribed with the botanical names of the plants depicted in black handwriting. The French court provided detailed instructions on how the decor should look, including an exact list of all the plants to be depicted.

Provenance

Rhenish private collection. - Lempertz Berlin, auction 922, 24th May 2008, lot 97.

Literature

The order and its constituents recorded in exhib. cat.: L'Impératrice Joséphine et les sciences naturelles, Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau, 1997.
Cf. also: Sterba, Napoléon und Joséphine - Kryptische Symbolik einer Liebe in der Dekoration eines botanischen Services für die Kaiserin, in: Keramos 194/2006, p. 73 ff.