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Lot 1049* - A200 Decorative Arts - Thursday, 31. March 2022, 10.00 AM

RARE BÖTTGER PORCELAIN TEAPOT

Meissen, ca. 1715-20. Model by Johann Jakob Irminger (1635-1724). Paintwork by George Funcke.
Baroque shape with two identical flower applications in relief. Spout with mascaron terminal, handle with leaf terminal. Colorfully painted in enamel colors. Convex lid with flower applications, similarly painted. No mark.
H 11.8 cm, Ø 13 cm.

Provenance:
Private collection, Austria.

Small chips, colors in part rubbed.

Comparative items with the same shape:
- Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (C. Boltz, Steinzeug und Porzellane der Böttgerperiode, Keramos 2000, Vols. 167/168, p. 114, Ills. 146, 147).
- Collection of the Margraves of Baden, Favorite Castle, Rastatt (Rückert 1982, Ill. 18; Grimm, Was bleibt, 1996, p.57), with fluted lid.
- Ariana Museum, Geneva (R. Blättler, Ariana Museum Geneva, 1995, p. 63).

Comparative items with a slightly different shape:
- Dresden State Collections, Inv. No. PE 2840 (E. Zimmermann 1908, color plate and Ill. 87) and (Rückert and Willensberger 1982, Ill. 16).
- Margarete Oppenheimer Collection (Julius Böhler, Munich 1936, Ill. 50, No.771).
- Schneider Collection, Lustheim Castle (R. Schmidt 1953, p. 31).
- Malcolm D. Gutter Collection (M. Santangelo 2018, p. 81), formerly Christie's London, 27 June 2005, Lot No. 2, formerly Blohm Collection (R. Schmidt 1953, p. 32).

The model was first molded from Böttger stoneware and then from Böttger porcelain. Irminger, a silver- and goldsmith, was responsible for the design, which was inspired by Chinese teapots and silversmithing of the time. There were various variations of this model, lid designs and sizes.

Although the lid on the teapot on offer may appear minimally larger, and the circumferential, applied floral decoration on the rim of the finial does not recur on the body of the teapot, the color scheme perfectly matches the teapot, just like the teapot in the Ariana Museum in Geneva.

An interesting aspect is also the small corrections of firing defects, as is also the case on the teapot on offer, which Funcke concealed by overpainting them with painted flowers. In a Commission Report of 6 September 1720, a reference to the handling of defective porcelains is disclosed: "...auch wenn durch dem emailleur Funcken, die etwa in den Geschirren befindliche kleine Fehler, vermittelst Bedeckung mit denen Farben verbessert und solche zu dem Verkauffe gebracht werden können....." (Rückert 1990, p. 147).


CHF 8 000 / 12 000 | (€ 8 250 / 12 370)

Sold for CHF 21 040 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.