News - DR des DANIELA ANTONIN'S LECTURE AT THE 2008 CERAMICS FAIR.

Location: Blogs The Meissen Blog
Posted by: Laurence Mitchell	15/06/2008
DR des DANIELA ANTONIN Assistant Director of the Hetjens-Museum for German ceramics Düsseldorf Curator of the Schneider Collection in Jaegerhof Manor discusses in her lecture on D3 Sunday 15th June, 4pm – 5pm THE MEISSEN PORCELAINS OF THE BAVARIAN ELECTORS – HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HISTORICAL COLLECTION IN MUNICH The porcelain collection of the Bavarian electors Max Emanuel (1662 – 1726), Carl Albrecht (1697–1745, from 1742 Emperor Carl VII.) and Max III. Joseph (1727–1777) from the House of Wittelsbach is one of the oldest collections of this renowned Saxon porcelain in the world. The collection was divided twice and was not subsequently viewed as a whole. Daniela Antonin's 2006 dissertation traces the origins of the Meissen porcelains of the House of Electors, currently housed in the Munich Residence, in the Bavarian National Museum and administered by the Wittelsbach Equalisation fund, and also re-catalogues them. In her presentation, she will discuss selected works from the historic porcelain collection of the House of Wittelsbach. Yesterday afternoon I attended Dr. Des Daniela Antonin’s lecture. What I learned about was very new information related to one of the most important collections in Saxony and during her quest to finding more answers to unanswered questions she is uncovering more information that is not available from the archives alone. In the case of the collection she was describing that was once housed in a magnificent palace in Munich that had it survived the bombardment of he 2nd world war would have been Germany’s equivalent to Versailles. bUT, Because so much information has become lost or mislaid the only illustrated information available is in black and white! Meissen porcelain is not only the greatest European porcelain but many a piece holds a story within the subject to which it is painted. "Although I am unable to illustrate the aforesaid example there is an explanation that can be easily understood". Because Saxon Royalty had a passion to acquire the very finest it sent its envoy’s to the Far East to bring back the Asian marvel. Augustus the Strong had a passion to rival the genus of the Orient hence the founding of the Meissen factory. Although the Chinese invented porcelain and the Japanese followed suit centuries later they shared one thing in common as soon as the European’s discovered the art of porcelain manufacture they too would try to imitate the painting of each other’s porcelain. Experts can see a distinct difference between the design of European’s on European porcelain when compared to their Asian counterparts. With some of the earlier 18th century Meissen, the Meissen artiste was under orders to copy many of the designs that originated from the Orient but also included designs copied from themselves originally. Complicated to say the least when it comes to undertaking research? But, it is this type of studied information that make a truly rare piece become unique. This fact I found out when one of my learned colleagues a major Californian collector asked a question about a centrepiece Daniela was discussing. In the case of this piece it was an irregular sized bowl that he thought might have been part of a much larger piece. But until some literature is acquired that illustrates the afore said piece was indeed part of a much larger centrepiece for the moment it had be put down to quess work and to the opinions of the experts whether this was the case. Although I have been told there is a complete version in unpainted form in the Seattle Art Museum and maybe I will learn the truth when I visit Seattle later this month. Nevertheless, spectacular pieces adorn many collections and many pieces tell an amazing story. In the case of Daniela’s lecture I learned about the House of Wittelsbach and its relationship with the emperors and empresses of Bavaria and Saxony and their relationship to Augustus the Strong. Not only was Augustus an assidious collector but he lavished wonderful gifts to his siblings and other members of the hierarchy in his court and other members of aristocracy that became members of his extended family. During the 18th century it was the Empress Amelia anna who acquired a most formidable collection. Although Meissen was the porcelain for Royalty it was the Asian porcelain of the 17th century that was the most noblest of prizes found in the collections. But, as I was to find proving provenance of a piece could prove to be tricky business. In the case of the shaped dish (I mention above) that was either a centrepiece in itself or a part of a much larger piece, it was the painting of the piece itself that was copied from a Japanese Kakiemon design from which this design itself was copied from a Meissen original. Experts who are able to handle original Asian porcelain that copy European porcelain notably Meissen, can see a difference in the style of painting on an Asian piece and its Meissen counterpart. In the case of this dish, the artists in the Kakiemon factory would have painted a piece of their porcelain copied from a Meissen original that was most probably acquired as a gift by an European explorer visiting Japan. This Kakiemon piece would have been acquired by either a collector who had visited Japan or by a representative of the Saxon court who had orders to visit Japan to acquire at first hand original pieces that in turn would illustrate painted porcelain copied from European originals. These pieces in turn would have been brought home and their designs introduced into the scene by the Meissen Artist.

Permalink \| Trackback

Comments (0)