A Berlin KPM porcelain watermelon basket from a dessert service for King Friedrich Wilhelm III
Unidentified model with pierced rim. Decorated with painted and relief laurel foliage and etched palmettes on coloured ground in the centre. Blue sceptre mark, blue enamel dash, iron red astrological mark. H 7.4, W 37.4 cm.
Around 1813.
This rare type of basket is mentioned in a file listing deliveries of tableware to the king between 1813 and 1820. Under the delivery date of 7 December 1813 we find the description: "with [gold] rim inside and outside, the bars inside and outside [gold] and greenish, the festoons painted with [gold] and brown, the leaves matt [gold] and engraved, the base chamois with [gold] arabesque: the festoons [gold] and engraved, the foliage underneath with [gold] painting. the whole foot [gold] (the canel remains matt and the raised shine)".
The appetite for watermelons was probably inspired by the French Empress Joséphine. After the defeat in the double battle of Jena and Auerstedt in October 1806, Prussia came under French hegemony. This had a profound influence on courtly life and thus on the porcelain produced by KPM. This type of basket was specially developed for the presentation of watermelons. There were originally four of these baskets, two of which are in the Belvedere at Charlottenburg. They are unique and there are no other mentions of them in the records.