For sale is a superb vase made by Meissen around 1730. It is
decorated with applied grapevines attached to the main body of the
vase. Imagine all the work it took to just do that. Then the grape vines
are painted with superb detail that must have taken forever to
accomplish. Every leaf has the veins painted on and some even have
different colors to parts like yellow and purple. On either side there
is a lady's head superbly painted in the typical Meissen colors. Great
detail and nice gilding. The top and bottom rim are gilded as well. The
vase was definitely potted by hand as one can see the lines in the
paste. The piece is rather large measuring 11 inches tall (plus or minus
a bit as the top rim is a bit wavy which is typical in early pieces).
It has a top diameter of just under 6 inches. Amazingly it is in very
good condition. There is a chip to a stalk and a leaf neither of which
is bad. An old repaired chip to the top rim which has come undone (but I
just got it fixed properly) and then there are two large firing cracks
in the base footring which were filled before the gilding was applied
which was common for the early period of Meissen before these pieces
were denoted as seconds. They were still in their infancy and practicing
a bit to get to perfection. Some chipping to the footring also quite
old. The footring is a bit odd looking yet typical of this period - designed to hold an
ormolu base which might have been here but is no longer present. Sadly
the base has been drilled (which I know had filled to at least look
better but it still won't be able to get used) so the vase could be used
as a lamp. Vandals! But that was a common practice for a period. I have
seen some other 18th century vases brutalized this way sold at
Christies. The base is unmarked (might have been where the hole is with
the AR Augustus Rex mark most likely but there are two impressed dots in
the footring which is a known mark for a turner at Meissen named
Kuettel of whom little is known except that he worked at Meissen early
on. A rare an superb example of very early Meissen porcelain! If you like my goodies have a look at my other auctions for a lot more top maker pieces or contact me through Ebay if you are looking for something else.
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