Terms and conditions of use
Dish
(c. 1750)
Medium
porcelain (hard-paste)
Measurements
4.1 × 27.1 × 17.9 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Patricia Begg OAM Bequest, 2024
Gallery location
17th & 18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
The form of this dish, comprising two leaves overlapping each other, directly copies Japanese Arita porcelain dishes dating from 1660 to 1680. There were at least five examples of this form in the Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong’s collection at his Japanese Palace in Dresden, all decorated in underglaze blue with different decoration. It is interesting to note that the Japanese dishes all respect the double-leaf design, with each leaf decorated differently, a reference to the Japanese use of overlapping sheets of paper for decorative purposes. However, the enamelled floral decoration on this Meissen dish pays no heed to the double-leaf form, the floor of the dish being treated as a single surface. A Meissen price list from 1731 refers to these dishes as ‘ovale platte Muscheln zum Confect in Form eines doppelten Blattes’ (an oval shell dish for confectionery in the form of a double leaf).
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Meissen, Saxony, Germany
Inscription
painted (diagonally) in blue on base c.: (crossed swords)
painted in grey on base c.: R.P.C.
painted (inverted) in grey on base l.r.: (flower)
Accession Number
2024.482
Department
International Decorative Arts