Lot 533 | KPM | EXEPTIONAL SERIES OF TWELVE PORCELAIN PLATES WITH ROMANTIC VIEWS OF THE RHINE

EXEPTIONAL SERIES OF TWELVE PORCELAIN PLATES WITH ROMANTIC VIEWS OF THE RHINE.

KPM. Berlin.

Date: 1837-1844.
Technique: Porcelain, painted in colours and gold. Each mounted in a matching frame.
Description: Each with a smooth, slightly grooved flag and riser. Gold-etched ornamental band on the banner, each with militaria in ovals on a purple ground. The mirror shows changing views of the Rhine with large panoramas in atmospheric light and clouds.

The views show different angles of the Ehrenbreitstein fortress and the mouth of the Moselle at the 'German corner' near Koblenz. The plate motifs can therefore be roughly titled as:
- View of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress with floating bridge - destroyed in the war. Near today's Pfaffendorf Bridge.
- Ehrenbreitstein Fortress seen from the riverbank near Neuendorf.
- Ehrenbreitstein & Koblenz with a view of St Castor's Basilica.
- View of the German Corner from a hill. The valley where the Moselle flows into the Rhine at Koblenz.
- View of the German Corner near Koblenz from Niederberg.
- View of Ehrenbreitstein with the Basilica of St Castor in the foreground.
- View of Koblenz from the west with Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in the background.
- View of Ehrenbreitstein from the western bank of the Rhine.
- View from the bank directly to the Balduin Bridge near Koblenz.
- View of Koblenz with Balduin Bridge from Ehrenbreitstein Fortress.
- View of the Balduin Bridge near Koblenz from a distance.
- View of Ehrenbreitstein from the Rhine with a view of the former village near Niederwerth.

Measurement: ø each 24,5cm.
Mark: Sceptre mark with KPM (1837-1844), red imperial orb with KPM (from 1832), each with the same painter's mark in blue on glaze.
One of the plates heavily restored.


Provenance:
Prussian nobility with ancestral seat in Berlin. The plates were presented in honour of military achievements and the associated nobilitation at the beginning of the 19th century.

Literature:
- Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Berlin/Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, Berlin (ed.), ...auf Allerhöchsten Befehl... Royal Gifts from the Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin. Berlin 1983.
- Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Berlin (ed.) Carl Daniel Freydanch, 1811-1887, Ein Veduten-Maler der Königlichen Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin KPM, Berlin 1987.

Prospectus or veduta painting on porcelain played an important role in various porcelain manufactories from the very beginning. Beginning with rather fantastic landscapes, it became increasingly important in the course of the 18th century to depict real landscapes and thus recognisable regions or castles.
View porcelains played an important role in the royal Prussian manufactory in Berlin and the products are among the finest examples of fine loupe painting. In addition to porcelain plaques, large ceremonial vases were also decorated with views of the Kingdom of Prussia and Berlin.
However, services were also created at the behest of the Prussian king as gifts of honour and diplomatic gifts. This includes the famous service for the Duke of Wellington, whose dessert plates depicted places that played an important role in the duke's life, such as Eaton College.
The set of twelve plates presented here is exceptional not only because of its provenance and the number of plates still in existence today. All the plates bear the same painter's mark and the quality of the Rhine vedute is remarkable. According to the manufactory marks, they were created between 1837 and 1844 and are eloquent testimony to the fascination with the Rhine and the surrounding landscape, or rather the so-called Rhine Romanticism.
Beginning at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the sometimes wildly romantic landscape of the Rhine Valley, especially between Mainz and Cologne, gave rise to a downright rapturous view of the landscape with its meandering river landscapes, idyllic views of medieval buildings and castles.
Initially, it found expression primarily in literary form, such as in the writings of Goethe and Hölderlin or later Heinrich Heine, but of course also in the visual arts. Numerous artists such as William Turner and Salomon Corrodi travelled to the great river. But of course artists of the Düsseldorf School also characterised the view and perception of the landscape and so the most popular pictorial motifs were also widely disseminated in the form of postcards and prints.
In the case of the series of twelve veduta plates presented here, the focus is clearly on the motifs around Koblenz. They not only show numerous facets of this town in atmospheric light, but also buildings that no longer exist today, such as the spectacular floating bridge.