A Berlin KPM porcelain allegory of architecture

A Berlin KPM porcelain allegory of architecture

Model no. 379. Figural group depicting a standing woman in classical attire holding a golden trumpet, a set square and an architectural plan in her upraised hand. Beside her, a gentleman sits facing right wearing a pale purple justacorps and a grey cap beside a drawing board and a crouching monkey holding a hammer. Inscribed in relief to the back of the plinth “Baukunst”. Blue sceptre mark. A restored breakage to the woman's arm and the drapery, a breakage to the set square, the trumpet retouched. H 33 cm.
C. 1770, model by Wilhelm Christian Meyer, 1768/69.

Provenance

Collection of Renate and Tono Dreßen.

Literature

Illus. in cat. Blütenlese, Meißener Porzellan aus der Sammlung Tono Dreßen, Berlin-Munich 2018, no. 4. Cf. Lenz, Berlin 1913, 1. vol., pl. 60, no. 253, for the model in the ceramics collection of KPM. Cf. also Heim, Die Berliner Porzellanplastik und ihre skulpturale Dimension 1751 - 1825, Berlin 2016, no. 31, for the later model in the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin, inv. no M 1449a and a good explanation of the subtle irony of the group.