A magnificent Berlin KPM porcelain vase with a portrait of Empress Augusta
Model no. 2268, Italian majolica model with foliate handle. Fired in three parts and screw-mounted. Richly decorated with relief and free-standing decor. The display side with a portrait of Empress Augusta in profile in an oval cartouche with the imperial crown supported by two winged figures of children. With a relief of flowering swags suspended from ribbons in the lower section. Blue sceptre mark and circle mark, brown imperial orb mark, impressed mark D. H 52 cm.
Model by Julius Mantel 1868, the figures by von Kell, the ornament by Louis Mantel.
The fact that the penny mark (pfennigmarke) was used between 1848 and 1870, and the imperial crown mark can only have been introduced after the proclamation of the German empire in 1871 provides us with several clues as to when this vase was made. According to KPM's model book, this vase model was first introduced in 1868 with a portrait of Queen Augusta supported by two flying putti. An example with a royal crown was delivered to Wilhelm I for the New Year's celebrations of 1869. The "pitcher-like decorative vessel with a portrait in relief" showing Queen Augusta was presented to the King by the manufactory's director Holler in the king's palace at 9 a.m.
It is conceivable that the royal crown was exchanged for the imperial crown in 1871 and that this example may be the piece made for Emperor Wilhelm I. However, this has not yet been proven as there are no corresponding documents in the state archives, or such documents no longer exist.
Unusually, no estate inventory was made upon Wilhelm's death in 1888, since all the artworks contained in the palaces of Babelsberg, Koblenz, and the imperial palace in Berlin were to remain in the possession of Empress Augusta. Many items from Augusta's extensive estate, including personal mementoes and jewellery, were bequeathed to her daughter, the Grand Duchess Luise von Baden. This vase may have been included among those items, which would explain the piece's origin in Baden.