Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
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Lot 159
A rare Meissen Marcolini oval portrait plaque depicting Count Camilo Marcolini, circa 1775
3 December 2020, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
A rare Meissen Marcolini oval portrait plaque depicting Count Camilo Marcolini, circa 1775
Decorated en grisaille with a portrait facing sinister, the sitter wearing his full regalia, the unglazed reverse with a log for hanging and inscribed 'Graf von Marcolini' in black script, 9cm diam.
Footnotes
Count Camillo Marcolini-Ferretti (1739-1814) was born in Fano, Italy, in 1739. The Prince Elector Frederick Christian met Camillo Marcolini's father in Rome, and offered young Camillo a position as donze to the Saxon court. In Saxony, Camillo quickly rose in the ranks and ended as minister in the Royal cabinet in 1809 and in 1818 followed the King into exile.
Camillo Marcolini also became minister and general director of the Fine Arts and the Fine Arts Academy, as well as director of the Meissen porcelain manufactory from 1774 to 1813. The asterisk mark on Meissen porcelain, used during his directorship, is therefore know as a Marcolini mark.
In 1774 Marcolini expanded the historic Palais Brühl-Marcolini. Around 1780 the 'chinesisches' and 'pompejanisches' Zimmer [Chinese and Pompeian rooms] took shape under the guidance of architects Ludwig Giesel and Christian Traugott Weinlig. This new taste for the neoclassical was also translated at the Meissen factory which under the guidance of Marcolini and with the help of Acier and Schönheit developed a new neoclassical aesthetic for the porcelain which stood in strong contrast to the rococo tradition of the past.