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A PAIR OF MEISSEN PORCELAIN COBALT-BLUE GROUND ENAMELED FIGURAL ‘EXHIBITION’ VASES AND COVERS

DATED 1881, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARKS, INCISED MODEL NO. H 161, PRESSNUMMER 8, THE DESIGN ATTRIBUTED TO E.A. LEUTERITZ

Details
A PAIR OF MEISSEN PORCELAIN COBALT-BLUE GROUND ENAMELED FIGURAL ‘EXHIBITION’ VASES AND COVERS
DATED 1881, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARKS, INCISED MODEL NO. H 161, PRESSNUMMER 8, THE DESIGN ATTRIBUTED TO E.A. LEUTERITZ
Each vase enameled en grisaille with a wide band of shrouded masks alternating with festoons of fruit and flowers and winged putti masks, all within gilt scrollwork, the shoulder flanked by two spiraling bifurcated handles with acanthus terminals, a putto seated between each handle either holding a love letter or playing a lyre, the neck of the vase with further ribbon-tied festoons, the cover and socle ensuite, the underside of the foot inscribed in black at the factory ‘Halle, Ausstellung 1881
16 ¹/₂ in. (41.9 cm.) high
Exhibition
Trade and Industry Exhibition (Gewerbe- und Industrie-Ausstellung), Halle, 1881.

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Lot Essay

Ernst August Leuteritz was born in 1818 near Meissen, and first joined the manufactory as an apprentice in 1836, where he studied under Ernst Friedrich Rietschel. By 1849 Leuteritz had climbed to the top of artistic studio, holding the post of manager and top modeler until 1886. Dr. K. Berling, Meissen China, p. 86, pl. 91 notes, 'During these many years he did great service to the factory by his extraordinary activity and skillfulness'. The distinctive decoration on the present vases was developed by Leuteritz in the mid-19th century in in response to renewed interest in the Renaissance style of Limoges enamel decoration.

Meissen displayed wares with this type of enamel decoration in the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, as is evidenced by a vase illustrated in The Art Journal Catalogue of the Paris Universelle Exposition of 1867, London, 1867, p. 120. Here the reviewer notes this vase, 'contributed by the Royal Manufacture of Dresden (Meissen)... [is] a Vase of great beauty both in form and in the art that adorns it'.

The importance of this decoration continued later into the second half of the 19th century, as evidenced by the factory’s display of the present vases at the Trade and Industry Exhibition (Gewerbe- und Industrie-Ausstellung) in Halle (Saale), Germany in 1881. Though there were over 130 smaller buildings and pavilions in exhibition, the present vases were displayed in section VIII of the impressive main building, topped by a magnificent glass dome. In the Officieller Katalog der Gerwebe- n.Industrie-Ausstellung zu Hall a.S. 1881, p. 83 , Meissen’s offerings are described accordingly:“Sächs. Porzellan-Manufaktur, Meissen. 1 Collection: Vasen in verschiedenem Genre mit Malereien nach Schwind, Bendemann und auderen. Gruppen und Figuren farbig und en biscuit nach Modellen von Habnel, Schilling, li:onig, Schwabe u. s. w. Tafelaufsätze, Leuchter, Uhren, Tafel-und Cafeservice nach eigenen Entwürfen der Fabrik, reich verzierte Dessertteller, Spiegel und Consoltisch und Anderes mehr.”

Vases of this form (model no. H 161), with its delicate spiraling handles and charming putti, seem to be exceedingly rare, and these are possibly the only known examples.