baluster vase
- Museum number
- 1941,0708.1
- Description
-
Vase, porcelain, large, of baluster form with domed cover surmounted with a pinecone knop, painted in Chinese style in underglaze-blue, red and gilt with some details in yellow and pink; flowering rockery in Chinese style and plants growing in bowl; ornamented borders on neck and cover; marked
- Production date
- 1730 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 12.60 centimetres (base)
-
Diameter: 10.60 centimetres
-
Height: 40.70 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This baluster jar and cover is inscribed on the base in underglaze blue with the AR monogram associated with Augustus Rex, Augustus II, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and the mark was in use between 1725 and 1730 on pieces made for the court or as diplomatic gifts.
In 1730, sixteen garnitures of blue and white Meissen porcelain were ordered for the decoration of Augustus the Strong's Dutch Palace, later known as the Japanese Palace. This jar may have been part of one of these sets ( Cassidy-Geiger, Maureen, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain, 1710-50, 2008, p.200.
Similar jars are in the following collections: the Nieborow Palace, Poland, possibly part of a set of seven vases inventoried in the 1840s; the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina; the Victoria and Albert Museum, missing its cover (C.1-1943), and the Malcolm D Gutter collection, in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honour (2015.66A-B) (see Santangelo, Maria, A Princely Pursuite: The Malcolm D. Gutter Collection ofEarly Meissen Porcelain, 2018, cat. no.25). Only the British Museum's jar has the added details in iron-red enamel and gold, possibly added later. The cover is different to the examples in Poland and San Franciso.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Knop and one side of cover repaired.
- Acquisition date
- 1941
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1941,0708.1
