A BERLIN GOLD-GROUND SLENDER CAMPANA VASE AND PLINTH OF WELLINGTON SERVICE TYPE, finely painted with a continuous scene depicting the battle of Vittoria after the engraving by F.C. Lewis with Wellington and his officers, a Spanish mercenary among cattle and grey-uniformed infantary-men in the foreground, the battle raging in the middle distance before the town and wooded foot-hills with mountains in the distance, the flared upper rim finely chased with radiating stiff leaves and anthemion, the swelling gilt lower part chased with bands of foliage, Vitruvian scrolls and joined by scrolling foliage and shells between the two short curved scroll handles, on a spreading circular gilt foot and square black marbled base, supported on a pale salmon-pink-ground square plinth richly gilt with stylised foliage, flowerheads and anthemion, the gilt stepped lower part with overlapping chased foliage, the top with giltmetal support for the vase (minute chip to upper rim of vase and to bottom corner of plinth, minute blemish to one angle of foot), the plinth with blue sceptre mark, Pressnummer 38, painter's marks of a puce circle and a yellow line, circa 181770.5cm. high overall

A BERLIN GOLD-GROUND SLENDER CAMPANA VASE AND PLINTH OF WELLINGTON SERVICE TYPE, finely painted with a continuous scene depicting the battle of Vittoria after the engraving by F.C. Lewis with Wellington and his officers, a Spanish mercenary among cattle and grey-uniformed infantary-men in the foreground, the battle raging in the middle distance before the town and wooded foot-hills with mountains in the distance, the flared upper rim finely chased with radiating stiff leaves and anthemion, the swelling gilt lower part chased with bands of foliage, Vitruvian scrolls and joined by scrolling foliage and shells between the two short curved scroll handles, on a spreading circular gilt foot and square black marbled base, supported on a pale salmon-pink-ground square plinth richly gilt with stylised foliage, flowerheads and anthemion, the gilt stepped lower part with overlapping chased foliage, the top with giltmetal support for the vase (minute chip to upper rim of vase and to bottom corner of plinth, minute blemish to one angle of foot), the plinth with blue sceptre mark, Pressnummer 38, painter's marks of a puce circle and a yellow line, circa 1817 70.5cm. high overall

Details

A BERLIN GOLD-GROUND SLENDER CAMPANA VASE AND PLINTH OF WELLINGTON SERVICE TYPE, finely painted with a continuous scene depicting the battle of Vittoria after the engraving by F.C. Lewis with Wellington and his officers, a Spanish mercenary among cattle and grey-uniformed infantary-men in the foreground, the battle raging in the middle distance before the town and wooded foot-hills with mountains in the distance, the flared upper rim finely chased with radiating stiff leaves and anthemion, the swelling gilt lower part chased with bands of foliage, Vitruvian scrolls and joined by scrolling foliage and shells between the two short curved scroll handles, on a spreading circular gilt foot and square black marbled base, supported on a pale salmon-pink-ground square plinth richly gilt with stylised foliage, flowerheads and anthemion, the gilt stepped lower part with overlapping chased foliage, the top with giltmetal support for the vase (minute chip to upper rim of vase and to bottom corner of plinth, minute blemish to one angle of foot), the plinth with blue sceptre mark, Pressnummer 38, painter's marks of a puce circle and a yellow line, circa 1817
70.5cm. high overall

Further details

END OF MORNING SESSION

Lot Essay

This vase commemorates the victory by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Vittoria fought on 21 June 1813. It was one of the most important victories during the Peninsular Wars. General Picton, an Englishman inflicted the decisive blow against the French under the command of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain. The King fled, leaving his army and treasures behind which were looted by Wellington's soldiers.

The scene is taken from an aquatint by F.C. Lewis of 1814 etched by H. Moses after a painting by J.M. Wright at Blenheim Palace. The Berlin artists have used some license in order to create the continuous scenes; the group of Wellington and his generals was presumably taken from another source. The form of the vase was perhaps designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841)

Between 1815 and 1820 the Berlin factory, under the director Friedrich Philipp Rosenstiel (1754-1834), undertook important royal commissions from Frederick William III, King of Prussia. This included the dinner-service commissioned on 5th October 1815 for the Duke of Wellington, finally delivered in 1819 and now housed in the Wellington Museum at Apsley House. For a full discussion of this service see Winfried Baer & Ilse Baer, The Prussian Service. The Duke of Wellington's Berlin Dinner Service 1817-1819. This service includes two vases of similar form to the present example depicting the battles of Waterloo and Vittoria. Although the scenes on these vases are rather more dramatic and the chasing to the gilding and marbled foot slightly different, the quality of workmanship leads one to suppose that this vase, if not intended for Wellington himself, was perhaps an important Royal commission for one of his generals. It is known that the Wellington service was preceded by gifts of Berlin porcelain to fourteen other Englishmen of high rank, delivered in thirty-two cases, though apparently no record exists as to the identity of the recipients or the content of the cases, see Winfried Baer & Ilse Baer, ibid., p. 15

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