cup
- Museum number
- Franks.947.+
- Description
-
Chinese porcelain cup, painted in Germany. The Chinese white porcelain cup is decorated with applied sprigs of prunus. The applied decoration is emphasized in black enamel and gilding, and three crowned coats of arms surrounded by leaves are painted in between. Inside the cup is a crowned monogram, at the rim and the foot are finely painted and gilded lace borders, and on the base is a flower-head.
- Production date
-
1700-1720 (circa)
-
1720-1730 (painted)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 7.40 centimetres
-
Height: 7 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:
The arms belong to Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland (1670-1733), whose extensive collection of European, Japanese and Chinese porcelains was recorded in an inventory in 1721 and is still largely housed at Dresden, Germany. Augustus began to collect porcelain from 1715 and reputedly was so fond of acquiring it that he gave a regiment of dragoons in exchange for twelve large Chinese jars (London, 1990, p. 65). The cup is of a well-known type made at the Dehua kilns in Fujian province, which was copied by many European manufactories. Dehua wares were more often overpainted in Europe than wares from Jingdezhen which rarely came to Europe undecorated. The black enamel decoration was added in Germany, possibly by Ignaz Preissler of Kronstadt in Bohemia, who was active c. 1720-39.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1994, Taiwan, National Museum of History, Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics
1995 27 Jan-26 Mar, London, BM, G91, East Meets West: Chinese Trade Ceramics in the British Museum
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- Franks.947.+
