LATE 19TH CENTURY, BLUE BEEHIVE MARKS TO SOCLE AND STAND, THE VASE TWICE SIGNED H. STADLER, THE BASE SIGNED H. MAKART PINX.

Details

A MONUMENTAL VIENNA STYLE 'JEWELLED' COBALT-BLUE GROUND VASE, COVER AND STAND
Late 19th century, blue beehive marks to socle and stand, the vase twice signed H. Stadler, the base signed H. Makart pinx.
Of baluster form, the tall domed cover with cone finial, finely painted front and back with Renaissance courtesan views, the front with a bevy of scantily clad beauties at their toilette, their lady Catharina at the far right, within a raised gilt surround titled below 'Der Sommer', the reverse with a coronation view of her ladies-in-waiting presenting her with flowers and gifts as she sits enthroned on a stepped dais attended by a Moorish figure holding a parasol, titled below 'Catharina Cornaro', the reserves enriched with gilt Bérainesque scrollwork incorporating amatory trophies, sculptural fountains and seeded cartouches, on a conforming socle; the stand finely painted front and back with an 'Allegorie der Bildhauerkunst' and a Renaissance mother and child seated before an artist, labeled below 'Raphael' set on an elaborately panelled gilt enriched band above alternating anthemion and trellis cartouches
56 in. (142.2 cm.) high (3)

Lot Essay

Hans Makart, 'The Modern Rubens' was an Austrian allegorical painter and designer 1840-1884. He studied at the Academy in Vienna and won fame as the 'Prince of Taste', even governing ladies' fashion. One of Makart's greatest achievements was staging the vast costumed parades held to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth, 1879. See an anonymous sale, Christie's, New York, 20 April 2006, lot 453, for a massive Vienna style charger painted by H. Stadler.

The subject of the present vase is based on the life of Catharina Cornaro, (1454 - 1510), Queen of Cyprus from 1474 to 1489. The work was likely to have been inspired by the tragic lyric opera commissioned by Bartolomeo Merelli, impresario of the Kaertnerthortheater in Vienna and composed by Geatano Donizetti in 1844. In 1475, Catharina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, 'accepted' Venetian protection against the 'Turkish threat', creating a historic alliance which ultimately gave Venice control over Cyprus.

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