Lot 6682
Maximilian I Joseph and Caroline of Bavaria – a pair of bisque portrait cups in the style of Johann Peter Melchior, Porzellanmanufaktur Nymphenburg, circa 1810
Orders and Military Collectibles until 1918 | A108m | Live auction | 313 Lots
Description
White glazed porcelain with gold highlights. The cups in goblet shape on a round base. The swan neck handles and borders gilt, a continuous floral frieze below the rim. The front with profile portraits of the King and Queen in high relief, made of bisque porcelain in an extended oval medallion with matte gilding. The saucers embellished en suite, bearing the inscriptions „Max Joseph" and „Caroline" in gold in the centre. Each piece with a lozenge hallmark in the form as of 1810 plus press marks „AC", „W", „IS" or „A" stamped in the base. Height of the cups 10.7 cm each, diameter of the saucers 14.4 cm each. Exceptionally rare pair of cups in unusually good condition. In 1797, Johann Peter Melchior (1747 - 1825) was appointed model master craftsman of the Porzellanmanufaktur in Nymphenburg. He specialised mainly in portrait medallions in bisque porcelain and alabaster. The shaping was carried out by Adam Clair („AC"), among others. See „Johann Peter Melchior 1747 - 1825 - Bildhauer und Modellmeister in Höchst, Frankenthal und Nymphenburg", Arachne Verlag 1997, p. 175 ff., particularly the portraits of the royal couple in fig. 291/292 on p. 179 and fig. 302 on p. 184 with a similar portrait cup of the King in the standard style in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum.Provenance: A gift from the King and Queen to a physician friend of theirs, a keen ornithologist, who had presented Max I Joseph with the unparalleled, distinguished coffee and tea service featuring parrot motifs, also made by PM Nymphenburg. See Hermann Historica, 89th Auction, lot 4266.
Condition: I - Questions about the lot?
