拍品专文
A remarkable number of large porcelain vases were produced during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855). Most of them were commissioned as diplomatic gifts and showpieces for international fairs, boasting the grandeur and exceptional quality of the production of the Imperial Porcelain Factory.
FEODOR KRASOVSKI AND THE FLORAL DESIGNS
Floral and ornamental painting on porcelain vases, plates and plaques was of the highest quality during this period. Specialist flower and fruit artists from Russia such as Feodor and Konstantin Krasovski were employed during this period, together with painters from France including Pierre Boudet and Vivant Beaucé.
Feodor Krasovski (1820-1863) painted the floral design of this vase in astonishing detail after Ernst-Gotthilf Bosse. Krasovski was considered one of the best masters of flower painting at the Imperial Porcelain Factory as a result of his technical and artistic abilities, together with a meticulous attention to detail. His elaborate porcelain plaque ‘Brazilian Flora’ won the Imperial Porcelain Factory a gold medal at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.
ERNST-GOTTHILF BOSSE (1785-1862)
Ernst-Gotthilf Bosse was predominantly known as a portraitist and copyist of Old Master paintings. Born in Riga, he studied in Dresden and Rome before moving to St Petersburg in 1820. He became an Imperial court painter and was sent to Italy to copy Renaissance paintings for the St Petersburg Academy of Arts, of which he was a professor.
Artists employed at the Porcelain Factory painted from nature at the botanical gardens, as well as using specimens from the factory's orangery to reproduce a wide variety of flowers and fruits. Some floral motifs would be copied from Dutch and Flemish paintings. It is possible that Bosse copied the design reproduced on the present vase from a work by Jan Davidsz De Heem, a 17th century still life painter known for his detailed cartouches of flowers and fruit decorated with blue ribbons.