An important Meissen porcelain tankard with hausmaler decor

An important Meissen porcelain tankard with hausmaler decor

Cylindrical tankard painted with two comical scenes; one with the Saxon court jester Fröhlich, the other with Harlequin. In the centre a coat of arms supported by two lions rampant above a drapery inscribed JH. With later silver mountings. Blue crossed swords mark. A glued breakage to the upper handle, a hairline crack to the base. H 16.3, with lid 23.5 cm.
The porcelain Meissen, c. 1750/60, the decor attributed to Franz Ferdinand Mayer in Pressnitz/Prísecnice.

Franz Ferdiand Meyer or Mayer from Pressnitz in Bohemia - present day Prísecnice in the Czech Republic - was one of the most well known painters of white Meissen porcelain. He is identifiable through a square Meissen porcelain plaque signed by the artist and dated "15. Juny 1752". The plaque, housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. no. C.117-1937), depicts a family tree of the imperial couple and their five children with a space left empty for the sixth child "in Spe.". This signed and dated panel provides us with insights into his skill as an enameller and miniaturist on porcelain and has formed the basis for all further attributions. Meyer probably drew inspiration for his designs from the engravings of the Augsburg artist Johannes Esaias Nilson (1721 - 88). The prototypes for the designs on this tankard have yet to be identified.

Provenance

Bonhams London, 6th December 2018, lot 63.

Literature

Cf. Pazaurek, Deutsche Porzellan- und Fayence-Hausmaler, vol. 2, Reprint Stuttgart 1971, p. 325, pl. 277, a tankard with almost identical decor and coat of arms in A.S. Drey in Munich in 1922.