Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 235
Two very rare Berlin blue-ground vases, circa 1785
2 July 2019, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £15,062.50 inc. premium
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Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Two very rare Berlin blue-ground vases, circa 1785
Of 'Weimar' form with moulded and gilt classical borders and a snake above acanthus leaves, mounted on a gilt-edged flared foot and circular pedestal, the domed cover with moulded gilt finial on an acanthus base, the first reserved with a sepia breast portrait, titled above 'DOROTHEE DUCHESSE DE COURLANDE', within a finely-tooled gilt border and laurel wreath, the reverse with a similar cartouche enclosing a sepia depiction of a classical maiden by a leafy tree-trunk, the second with the arms of Peter Duke of Kurland within a circular gilt-edged reserve embellished with palm fronds and foliate swags in two-tones of gilding, the reverse with a similar cartouche enclosing gilt and foliate letters 'PDC', 49cm high, sceptre marks in underglaze-blue (4)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Prince Torlonia, Rome;
Thence by descent to the present owner
Literature:
E. Köllmann, Berliner Porzellan 1763-1963, vol. II (1966), pl. 144
Dorothea Duchess of Kurland, née Countess von Medem (1761-1821), was the third wife of Peter von Biron Duke of Kurland (m. 1779). She resided in the Palais Kurland in Berlin and in 1794 acquired the estate of Löbichau as a summer residence, to which she invited poets and philosophers as well as family and friends. Among other famous personalities, she was acquainted with Czar Alexander I of Russia, King Friedrich Wilhlem III of Prussia, Napoleon, Goethe and Schiller. These vases were not among the contents of Schloss Löbchau that were sold by R. Lepke. Berlin, 22-23 October 1907.
