A rare large Meissen porcelain covered butter dish.
Formed as a flat barrel. The lid bordered with underglaze blue and gilt latticework decor and decorated with two cartouches containing harbour scenes. The dish with further quatrefoil reserves containing finely painted river landscapes, all reserves separated by fine "indianische blumen" issuing from earth mounds. Blue crossed swords mark with curved guards and round pommels to the base of the dish. Minimal rim chips, several visible flaws in the porcelain to the interior. H 6.7, diameter 14.3 cm.
Ca. 1725, the decor probably Johann Christoph Horn.
When describing a beaker in the Wark Collection with similarly early decor, Pietsch illustrates the development of underglaze blue in Meissen. In an attempt to copy the soft edged powder blue decor of Chinese Kangxi porcelain, the Meissen artists used sponges to apply the pigment. However, they didn't know that the Chinese artists achieved this effect by using a bamboo pipe to blow the paint onto their pieces. The dark blue contours of the cartouches on this butter dish have been applied using a sponge, whereas the lines of the trellis work are brushed. The arcanist David Köhler (ca. 1683 - 1723) is thought to be the inventor of underglaze blue.
Provenance
From an old Rhenish family collection.
Literature
Cf. Pietsch, Early Meissen Porcelain, London 2011, no. 110.