Lot Essay
The fashion for veduta painting on porcelain was developed in porcelain factories throughout Europe during the 18th Century. By the early 19th Century, the most popular designs of the K.P.M. factory were painted views and the factory was in competition with the sumptuous wares of the Royal factory in Vienna. The Prussian Royal Family was the foremost patron and commissioned gifts such as the service made for the Duke of Wellington, 1815-19, to celebrate his victory over Napoleon. Others were diplomatic gifts or commemorated official visits.
The majestic Royal city centre of Berlin around the Kronprinzenpalais, along the Unter den Linden provided a grand focus for painters. The Brandenburg gate had been built at the end of the Unter den Linden, 1788-91, by Karl Gotthard Langhans. During the early 19th Century, a major re-building programme had been initiated and the new appearance of Berlin owed much to the vision of the master architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel who, from 1815, was the senior councillor for Prussian building activities and whose name is associated with the classical phase of architectural design. In 1817, the Schauspielhaus was built to Schinkel's design on the site of the old theatre which had been destroyed by fire. Further developments included the Neue Museum and Neue Kirche in 1823 and the Bauakademie, 1831-35. Schinkel supervised the restoration of the palaces of Princes Carl and Albrecht on the Wilhelmstrasse. At the death of Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1840, Berlin had grown massively and the cityscape had been transformed.
The artist Carl Daniel Freydanck (1811-87) was employed at K.P.M. from 1838 to 1848 to paint views of Berlin and Potsdam for use as designs for the porcelain painters to reproduce on services, vases and plaques.
Cf. Derek Ostergard (Ed.), Along the Royal Road, Berlin and Potsdam in KPM Porcelain and Painting 1815-48, Exhibition at the Bard Graduate Centre for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1993, p. 174, no. 62 for a topographical service of this shape with blue grounds, presented by Princess Victoria of Prussia to the English veduta painter, William Callow. See also Erich Köllman and Margarete Jarchow, Berliner Porzellan, Munich, 1987, Volume II, p. 554, no. 493 for a similar service with views of Berlin, in the Berlin Museum.
A plaque painted after Freydanck with a view of Potsdam sold in these Rooms, 19 May 1993, lot 93. A panoramic view of the buildings on the Unter den Linden painted by Johann Philipp Eduard Gaertner sold in these Rooms, 13 October 1994, lot 14
The majestic Royal city centre of Berlin around the Kronprinzenpalais, along the Unter den Linden provided a grand focus for painters. The Brandenburg gate had been built at the end of the Unter den Linden, 1788-91, by Karl Gotthard Langhans. During the early 19th Century, a major re-building programme had been initiated and the new appearance of Berlin owed much to the vision of the master architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel who, from 1815, was the senior councillor for Prussian building activities and whose name is associated with the classical phase of architectural design. In 1817, the Schauspielhaus was built to Schinkel's design on the site of the old theatre which had been destroyed by fire. Further developments included the Neue Museum and Neue Kirche in 1823 and the Bauakademie, 1831-35. Schinkel supervised the restoration of the palaces of Princes Carl and Albrecht on the Wilhelmstrasse. At the death of Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1840, Berlin had grown massively and the cityscape had been transformed.
The artist Carl Daniel Freydanck (1811-87) was employed at K.P.M. from 1838 to 1848 to paint views of Berlin and Potsdam for use as designs for the porcelain painters to reproduce on services, vases and plaques.
Cf. Derek Ostergard (Ed.), Along the Royal Road, Berlin and Potsdam in KPM Porcelain and Painting 1815-48, Exhibition at the Bard Graduate Centre for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1993, p. 174, no. 62 for a topographical service of this shape with blue grounds, presented by Princess Victoria of Prussia to the English veduta painter, William Callow. See also Erich Köllman and Margarete Jarchow, Berliner Porzellan, Munich, 1987, Volume II, p. 554, no. 493 for a similar service with views of Berlin, in the Berlin Museum.
A plaque painted after Freydanck with a view of Potsdam sold in these Rooms, 19 May 1993, lot 93. A panoramic view of the buildings on the Unter den Linden painted by Johann Philipp Eduard Gaertner sold in these Rooms, 13 October 1994, lot 14