19TH CENTURY, MARKED WITH REVERSED MEISSEN-TYPE BLUE UNDERGLAZE CROSSED SWORDS ENCLOSING TWO TINY STARS

Details

A large Meissen-patterned group of Mercury and Bacchus
19th century, marked with reversed Meissen-type blue underglaze crossed swords enclosing two tiny stars
Gilt and painted in colours, modelled as a scantily clad Mercury wearing a petasus offering the small Bacchus to four nymphs, one nymph milking a goat, on oval foliate rockwork base (chips to goat horns)
34cm high

Special notice

Christie's charge a buyer's premium of 20.825% of the hammer price for lots with values up to NLG 200,000. If the hammer price exceeds the NLG 200,000 then the premium is calculated at 20.825% of the first NLG 200,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of NLG 200,000.

Sale room notice

Please note that this group is marked for the Bourdois et Bloch Paris factory and can be dated circa 1890.

Lot Essay

Bacchus was born from the thigh of his father, Jupiter. He had been sewn into it by Mercury, after his mother, Semele, had been consumed by one of Jupiter's thunderbolts during her pregnancy. Mercury handed the infant over to the nymphs who lived in a grotto on Mount Nysa, to take care of him (Met.3:310-312).
This mark can be related to contemporary Moscow Gardner pseudo-Meissen marks.

See illustration

More from EUROPEAN CERAMICS, DUTCH DELFTWARE AND GLASS

View All