A Berlin KPM Urbino form vase no. 3 with the Muse Erato
Model no. 2070. Fired in three parts and screw-mounted. Oviform corpus and waisted neck, two angular S-shaped handles with mascaron appliques terminating in spiralling acanthus scrolls. The round base supported by a stepped octagonal plinth. Decorated to the display side with a depiction of a young lady in a classical gown and a flower crown with a swan and a lyre amid laurel foliage. The neck, lower section, base, and plinth of the vase decorated with gilt designs picked out in green, red, and black. The top of the plinth with vermicelli decor, the sides with alternating lyre and laurel motifs. Blue sceptre mark and imperial eagle in a circle, red imperial orb mark. H 73 cm.
Circa/shortly after 1856, the model by Julius Wilhelm Mantel.
Despite being made around 1856, this vase is decorated in the conservative style favoured by Friedrich Wilhelm III for his royal presentation gifts which continued to be used by his son Friedrich Wilhelm IV after 1840. Both the origin of the depiction and the circumstances of the piece's commission remain unknown.
Provenance
French aristocratic ownership. - Italian collection.
Literature
For this model, cf.: Ponert, Berlin 1985, no. 131.
KPM made several depictions of Muses, for example on the dessert plates from the service with the iron helmet. A plate with a depiction of Erato can be found in the Hessische Hausstiftung (cat.: Orden auf königlichem Porzellan, Eichenzell 2013, no. 4.262, inv. Fasanerie Pe 350).