An important Meissen porcelain tankard with hausmaler decor
With vermeil mountings. Cylindrical tankard with curved handle issuing from a leaf and three cherry blossom reliefs. Decorated with large and finely painted female allegories of the seasons and small birds. Blue crossed swords mark, the silver with a Russian 84 zolotnik hallmark and maker's mark PK. The handle reattached. H with mountings 24.3 cm.
The porcelain Meissen, circa1750/60, decor attributed to Franz Ferdinand Meyer Pressnitz/Prísecnice, silver mountings St. Petersburg, Peder Karmack (1787-97).
Franz Ferdiand Meyer or Mayer from Pressnitz in Bohemia - present day Prísecnice in the Czech Republic - was one of the most well known painters of white Meissen porcelain. He is identifiable through a square Meissen porcelain plaque signed by the artist and dated "15. Juny 1752". The plaque, housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. no. C.117-1937), depicts a family tree of the imperial couple and their five children with a space left empty for the sixth child "in Spe.". This signed and dated panel provides us with insights into his skill as an enameller and miniaturist on porcelain and has formed the basis for all further attributions. Meyer probably drew inspiration for his designs from the engravings of the Augsburg artist Johannes Esaias Nilson (1721 - 88). The prototypes for the designs on this tankard have yet to be identified, but they were most likely based on the work of a South German or Bohemian artist.
Provenance
Collection of Renate and Tono Dreßen.
Literature
Illus. in cat.: Blütenlese. Meißener Porzellan aus der Sammlung Tono Dreßen, Munich 2018, p. 149, no. 107 ff.