A Berlin KPM porcelain vase with two views of Berlin
Model no. 1606 with scroll handles, fired in two parts and screw-mounted. Both sides decorated with finely painted views of the opera house and the south eastern facade of Berlin City Palace in rectangular gold surrounds on pink ground with rich arabesques. Blue sceptre mark, red imperial orb mark, red circle, impressed P and I. Retouched damage to the shaft, a restored chip to the base, slight wear to the gilding. H 41.6 cm.
Circa 1845, after paintings by Carl Daniel Freydanck.
The paintings from which the two views on this vase were copied today hang in Charlottenburg Palace. One, "Das Königliche Schloß und die Lange Brücke in Berlin" is dated 1842, the other, "Ansicht des neuen Opernhauses in Berlin", 1845. The vase was presumably painted shortly before the completion of the new opera house. The building on Unter den Linden boulevard, designed by Carl Ferdinand Langhans, was inaugurated on 7th December 1844. The scene follows Freydanck's composition quite closely, only the carriages have been left out. We see the dome of the Church of St. Hedwig in the right background and the spires of the Werdersche Kirche on the left.
Provenance
West German private collection.
Literature
Cf. cat.: Carl Daniel Freydanck, Berlin 1987, no. P 12, a large "Eyförmig No.3" vase with the same views from Charlottenburg Palace, Belvedere, in ibid. cat. no. 8 and 10.