A pair of monumental Berlin lacquer vases
White glazed faience with polychrome lacquer decor, partially over plaster relief. Large baluster-form vases with tall funnel-shaped necks. Decorated throughout with figures in chinoiserie style landscapes alternating with exotic plants and birds on islands. Blue coin mark. Two filled firing cracks to the base of one, losses to the plaster. H 127 and 128 cm, with painted wooden socle 139 and 140 cm.
1840s.
The imposing size and well-preserved shimmering green lacquer decor of this pair of vases mark them out as a very special commission. In his essay, Samuel Wittwer mentions numerous works with similar decor made for the royal Prussian palaces. Pieces like this were made for Charlottenburg, Berlin Palace, and Sanssouci, which still houses another green vase. Wittwer bases the date which he assigns these pieces on the fact that these kinds of lacquered works are only mentioned in inventories after 1840. For example, Queen Elisabeth was presented with "vases, Chinese, green with figures and flowers in bas relief with bronze rim and base" (Wittwer, ibid. p. 243). The vases, which were produced in various different sizes, created an exclusive fashion in the time of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Large examples such as the present works demonstrate especially the pride taken in the technical perfection of these new designs.
Provenance
Private collection, Copenhagen.
Literature
The origin and date of these vases long remained a mystery. Otto v. Falke tentatively dated the "barbaric overpainting" (Altberliner Fayence, Berlin 1923, p. 39) to after 1790. The two vases which he mentions are those formerly housed in Berlin Palace (black with mother-of-pearl inlays, H 100 cm) and in Sanssouci (one gu-form, green with polychrome lacquer decor, H 88 cm). Samuel Wittwer reliably dates the pieces to after 1840 in his essay "Berliner Lackvasen" (cat. Schwartz Porcelain, Münster 2004, p. 237 ff).