An Extremely Rare Böttger Gilt and Cold-Painted Black-Glazed Red Stoneware Coffeepot and Cover, Circ

'Turkisch Coffe Krügel', modelled in Turkish taste, glazed to simulate Oriental lacquer, decorated in the workshop of Martin Schnell, Dresden, probably by the master, in red and pale-orange cold colours and gilding, with four panels of figures at various pursuits, above panels of precious objects, separated by vertical panels of dense gilt-foliate scrolls, affixed with a supported spout with a serpent-head form terminal, the underside of the foot with a gilt design, the domed cover molded with a crescent and pendant bosses and bands picked out in gilt diaper, the gilt-metal handle a replacement, the interior of the cover with gilt or enamelled numeral 3.

Height 7 1/2 in.

19 cm.

Exhibited
Mainz, Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum, Keramik aus Privatbesitz, 10 May-4 June 1979, bearing label inscribed I/103

Catalogue note
Martin Schnell and Lacquer

Regarded as one of the greatest lacquerers of early 18th century Europe, Martin Schnell (ca. 1675-1740) was active in Berlin from 1703 to 1709, following which he was appointed to the position of Hoflackierer to the court in Dresden in January 1710, where he applied lacquer decoration to furniture, room decoration and even tournament equipment. On January 22 of that year, Böttger wrote to the King:

“the glaze [of the stoneware] has also achieved perfection, and is preferred by true connoisseurs to the Indian lacquer and the lacquerer Schnell employed by your Majesty expressed his special pleasure at this, and regards himself as very fortunate to have been taken into your Majesty’s service.” (quoted from Loesch, 2009, p. 128).

At the point of the inventory taken of the Meissen manufactory on 3 August 1711, 100 objects were recorded with a black glaze. Manufactory Inspector Johann Melchior Steinbrück included in his 1717 report: “…Apart from this, he (inventor Böttger) has coated some of the red ware with a black glaze, and thus again produced a completely new kind of porcelain such as has not been seen from India…; and has partly had it lacquered in gold and paints, which has given it a very attractive appearance.” (quoted from Loesch, op. cit., 2009, p. 123). The sources for the figures seen on the present lot are not immediately identifiable but likely derive from engravings by Petrus Schenk the Younger.

The form appears to be inspired by Middle Eastern metal ware, or Chinese blue and white porcelain made for the Turkish market. The 1711 inventory records the shape as

‘Türckisch Coffe Krügel’, and includes several examples of the form: ‘1 Türckisch Coffe Krügel fein geschnitten und Pollirt ohne Deckel (geschnitten und poliert)’, [1 Turkish Coffee pot, finely cut and polished, without cover (cut and polished)];‘1 Türckisch Coffe Krügel ( glasiert)’, [1 Turkish Coffee pot (black glazed)]; as well as 24 unfired examples, ‘24 Türckische Coffe Krügel (ungebrannt)’ (quoted by Boltz, op. cit., 1982 p. 17).

The 1719 inventory of the Meissen manufactory and the warehouses at Dresden and Leipzig list further examples, which includes a black-glazed example in Dresden, and two with a black glaze with gold lacquer in Leipzig (Boltz, 2000, p. 79), as well as two red stoneware examples in J.F. Böttger's chambers. Today, a red stoneware coffee pot in the historic collection of Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha is on permanent loan to the Porzellansammlung, Dresden, inv. no. PE 2480.

The Recorded Examples in black-glaze

Including the present lot, it would appear that only seven black-glazed examples of this form survived to the 20th century, four of which are now in museum collections. These comprise:

One (lacking cover), gilt with diaper and flower panels is in the Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, acquired by the museum in 1890, inv. no. KE3660;

One, gilt with flowers is in the Porzellansammlung, Dresden, inv. no. PE 2609, acquired in 1892, illustrated in Loesch et al., (ed.), op.cit., cat. no. 89, Sonnemann and Wächtler, op. cit., nos. 94;

One (lacking cover), cold-painted in red and brown with flowers and gilt diaper panels, was formerly in the Collection of Dr. Wilhelm Dosquet, Berlin, sold (anonymously), Hans W. Lange, Berlin, Wertvolles Kunstgewerbe aus Berliner und anderem Privatbesitz, 20 May 1941, lot 451 (alongside lot 450, an example in red stoneware). Its current whereabouts, unknown;

One, gilt with flowers and alternating diaper panels, is in the Hans Syz Collection in the Smithsonian Institution, acc. no. 297499, illustrated in Syz et al., op.cit., pp. 30-31, where the authors list known unglazed-examples of the form, illustrated in Sonnemann and Wächtler, op. cit., nos. 93;

One, gilt with flowers, sold at Christie’s London, 3 December 1984, lot 309, and is now in the Museum Jacobs Suchard, Zürich;

and one, gilt and cold painted with pagoda buildings, in a New York Private Collection, illustrated in Kopplin, op. cit., p. 185, figs. 29, 31.

The present coffee pot would appear to be the only surviving recorded example with figural decoration. 

Related Literature

Hans Syz et al., Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection, Washington D.C. 1979, Vol. I

Claus Boltz, ‘Formen des Böttgersteinzeugs im Jahre 1711’, Mitteilungsblatt der Keramikfreunde der Schweiz 96, 1982

Rolf Sonnemann and Eberhard Wächtler (ed.), Johann Friedrich Böttger. Die Erfindung des europäischen Porzellans, Leipzig/ Stuttgart 1982

Claus Boltz, ‘Steinzeug und Porzellan der Böttgerperiode - Die Inventare und die Ostermesse des Jahres 1719’, Keramos 167/168, 2000

Monika Kopplin (ed.), Schwartz Porcelain: Die Leidenschaft für Lack und ihre Wirkung auf das europäische Porzellan, Munich 2003

Anette Loesch in, Dirk Syndram and Ulrike Weinhold (ed), Böttger Stoneware, Johann Friedrich Böttger and Treasury Art, Munich 2009

Anette Loesch et al. (ed.), Sächsisch schwartz laquirtes porcelain, Dresden 2013
Additional Notices & Disclaimers

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