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Lot 265
A rare Berlin centrepiece, circa 1785-90
7 December 2011, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £9,375 inc. premium
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A rare Berlin centrepiece, circa 1785-90
The gilt-edged oval basket moulded with swags and a foliate border above the fluted footrim, supported by four herms with matte and polished gilding on tapering columns with floral swags and foliate bands, all mounted on a gilt-metal base, 38.5cm high, sceptre mark in underglaze-blue to basket (one arm restuck, some regilding, minor chips)
Footnotes
This centrepiece model was created for a service ordered by Frederick the Great, the light blue or 'bleu mourant' table service, which was ordered in July 1784 and completed the following year. The colour was Frederick's favourite and at his instruction the Berlin manufactory had been trying for several years to replicate it on porcelain. The original centrepiece for this service was in 1913 in the collection of the Berlin porcelain manufactory, published by Georg Lenz, Berliner Porzellan (1913), II, ill. 778. Another example of the form in the Kunstgewerbemuseum (in then East Berlin) is published by Günter Schade, Berliner Porzellan (1978), ill. 55. Both these examples have a slightly more elaborate basket than the present lot but are mounted on closely similar gilt-metal bases. The simpler profile of the present basket, and especially the moulded swags, are strongly reminiscent of the service for the Duke of Courland of 1790, with which a more pronounced neo-classical style was adopted.
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