THE GUERIDONS SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY, THE PORCELAIN WANLI (1573-1619), KANGXI (1662-1722) AND QIANLONG (1735-1795)

These porcelain-embellished lacquer gueridons were conceived in the German antiquarian fashion of the 19th Century and were clearly inspired by earlier prototypes which have mostly perished. Related examples in silver have survived such as the gueridons in Schloss Marienburg, which were executed in Augsburg around 1720 by Philipp Jacob Drentwett. (H. Kreisel G. Himmelheber, Die Kunst des Deutschen Möbels, Munich, 1986, Vol. II, fig. 336.) The fashion for porcelain-mounted furniture was particularly admired at the Court of Augustus the Strong In Dresden. The porcelain factory at Meissen, which he founded in 1710, produced chandeliers but undoubtedly gueridons as well. The earliest known ormolu-mounted Meissen porcelain chandelier was executed circa 1725, and is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. It is discussed and illustrated in R. Baarsen, Duitse Meubelen, Zwolle, 1998, pp. 52-53.