CIRCA 1750, IRON-RED WHEEL MARK

Details

A large Höchst rococo oval two-handled tureen and cover
Circa 1750, iron-red wheel mark
Of bombé form on four scrolling feet, the handles formed as joined scrolls, painted in petiti feu colours with large specimen flower-sprays, including tulips, carnations and irises, one side of the tureen with a stag-beetle on an oak leaf, the other with a butterfly in flight, the interior with scattered cherry leaves and cherries about a trailing vine branch, one end of the domed cover with a swallowtail butterfly at rest on a flower-spray, the other with a tortoishell butterfly in flight, the high domed centre with a large handle of four joined scrolls and foliage terminals (small minor chip to underside of one foot, slight flaking to underside of feet, hairline cracks to feet and base of tureen, cover with small crack from rim, handle probably restuck, the cracks through terminals with associated losses, slight chipping to terminals)
22½ in. (57 cm.) wide

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

There are only two examples recorded of this model, probably one of the largest pieces of fayence that the Höchst factory made. The other is in the Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum, Mainz, and is illustrated by H. Reber, Die Kurmainzische Porzellanmanufaktur Höchst (Münich 1986), fig. 198. The present lot is illustrated by Reber, ibid., fig. 201, from an old photograph. It has probably not been seen since that image was taken. Owing to the massive scale of this model, with all the inherent risks in its firing, it is not surprising that only two examples have survived. Indeed, it is unlikely that more than two were ever produced.

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