HIGHLY IMPORTANT PLAQUE BY ADAM FRIEDRICH VON LÖWENFINCK Fulda, circa 1741–44.
HIGHLY IMPORTANT PLAQUE BY ADAM FRIEDRICH VON LÖWENFINCK
Fulda, circa 1741–44.
Faience decorated in overglaze technique. Painted in grisaille after Johann Christoph Steinberger’s (1680–1727) engraving "The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple" from the New Testament (Luke 2:22). Depicting the ritual purification of Mary, kneeling to the right of the altar, with Joseph to the left offering two young doves. Simeon, wearing a bishop’s mitre and holding a censer, together with the kneeling prophetess Anna to the left, the Christ Child lying in a halo of glory on the altar table. Above the scene, two monumental temple columns rise into the clouds amid numerous angels. At the lower edge, two angels, one pointing toward the scene at the altar. Signed lower right "A.F.V.Löwenfincken.pinx.".
18.5 × 15.2 cm.
Provenance:
- Antiquités Bastian, Strasbourg.
- Peter Ducret Collection, Kilchberg; acquired from the above in 1982.
Exhibited:
- Ulrich Pietsch: Von Meissen nach Strassburg. Der Porzellan- und Fayencemaler Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck (1714-1754), Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Oct. 1, 2014–Feb. 22, 2014, exhibition catalog, fig. 90, no. 196.
- Gregor K. Stasch: Made in FD. Spitzentechnologie aus der Fuldaer Fayencemanufaktur (1741-1760), Vonderau Museum Fulda, March 13–May 31, 2015, exhibition catalog, ill. p. 96, no. 127.
Literature:
Peter Ducret: Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck als Figuren- und Landschaftsmaler auf Fayence, in: Keramos 100/1983, p. 117-125.
The significance of this rare plaque lies in the rare artist’s signature at the lower right, that of Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck, one of the most celebrated porcelain and faience painters of his time.
His career first took him to Meissen, where he worked as an apprentice from 1727 to 1731 and had already risen to the rank of painter by 1731–36. In 1736, he fled Meissen for Bayreuth, where he remained until 1737, probably moving on to Chantilly from 1737 and apparently working at the Ansbach faience factory in 1740. In 1741, he finally arrived in Fulda, where his brilliant overglaze enamels and early, characteristically colorful Asian floral decoration had a decisive influence on the artistic development of this small but highly important faience manufactory.
Attempts to establish a manufactory in Fulda had begun as early as 1740 under Christian Ruprecht, a Delft-trained "Porcilainmacher". The apparently unsatisfactory results prompted the Prince-Abbot of Fulda, Amand von Buseck (1737–1756; Prince-Bishop from 1752), to seek new solutions. Shortly after Ruprecht’s dismissal, Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck, who had fled Meissen only a few years earlier, arrived on 18 February 1741. With Löwenfinck, the factory soon established by the Prince-Abbot entered a period of exceptional artistic flourishing and offered unique opportunities for the development of many important artists of the period.
Löwenfinck left Fulda in 1744, taking several painters with him who followed him to Höchst. Other important modellers, such as Wenzel Neu, remained (Fulda exhibition 2015).
The quality of the known Fulda plaques is in some cases outstanding; examples that can be attributed to Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck are rare. Works from his Meissen period virtually never bear painter’s signatures, although occasional concealed signatures incorporated into the decoration itself have been discussed.
A second signed plaque, although with a polychrome depiction of the Adoration of the Shepherds, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It bears the somewhat less complete signature at the lower right: "de Löwenfincken pinx" (object no. 45.61.3). The great collector Ralph H. Wark (author of several articles on Löwenfinck in KFS between 1956 and 1958) congratulated Peter Ducret on his acquisition in a letter of November 1982 and emphasized that the "Adoration of the Shepherds" plaque in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, could "without doubt now also be definitively attributed to Adam Friedrich Löwenfinck".
The only other work by Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck bearing an equally complete signature was a miniature painted on enamel, interpreted as a self-portrait of Löwenfinck and signed on the reverse "A.F.v. Löwenfincken.Pinx." (P. Ducret, "Keramos" 100/1983, p. 117). The miniature was formerly in the collection of the Berliner Schlossmuseum and has been missing since the Second World War.
Peter Ducret first published his plaque in "Keramos" in 1983 (ibid.). In addition to comparing it with the signed New York plaque, he compared it with another plaque from Fulda depicting St Aloysius, signed in 1745 by Löwenfinck’s wife, Maria Seraphia Schick (Vonderau Museum, Fulda, inv. no. IVD41; Pietsch 2014, p. 35, fig. 11).
ADAM FRIEDRICH VON LÖWENFINCK (BIALA 1714 – 1754 HAGENAU)
Opulent East Asian chrysanthemums in brilliant colors on imposing large vases, fanciful mythical creatures, and characteristic Chinese figures and landscapes are among the decorative schemes that gave early Meissen porcelain its distinctive character and which A. F. von Löwenfinck played a decisive role in shaping.
In 1727, he entered the service of the most important porcelain manufactory of the early 18th century as an apprentice painter. The court commissioner Johann Gregorius Höroldt kept him under strict discipline, perhaps also out of jealousy. The high esteem in which Löwenfinck’s works are held today was apparently hardly shared by the manufactory at the time. In 1736, he became embroiled in a bitter dispute with the manufactory administration; for exclaiming "der tausend Sacramentische Kerl" at the Geschirrschreiber, he was even punished with imprisonment.
In August 1736, Löwenfinck fled to Bayreuth and joined the faience manufactory leased from the Margrave by Johann Georg Knöller in 1728. Little is known about his time there; an important cylindrical tankard is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In 1741, he finally arrived in Fulda. In 1748, the painter Georg Friedrich Hess reported that Löwenfinck had come to Fulda from Ansbach; there are also references to a period spent in Chantilly.
Initially employed as an enamel painter, he was soon promoted to court enamel painter. In Fulda, he married Maria Seraphia Magdalena Schick, daughter of the "Hoflackier" and faience painter Johann Philipp Schick, one of the co-founders of the Fulda faience manufactory.
When Adam Friedrich left Fulda with his wife in 1744, he established his own faience manufactory at Mainz-Weisenau in 1745 and subsequently moved to Höchst in 1746. There he became a co-founder, partner and director of the Höchst faience manufactory, which received the privilege of the Electorate of Mainz. Five other former Meissen craftsmen also worked there. In February 1749, he was dismissed by the Elector following financial disputes.
That same year he arrived in Strasbourg. In 1750, he settled at the subsidiary operation of the Hannong faience manufactory in Hagenau, where he served as director from 1751. Only a few years later, in 1754, he died at the age of just 40. His wife Maria Seraphia had by then already risen to the ranks of the leading porcelain painters and would shortly thereafter assume the management of both Strasbourg manufactories.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
HIGHLY IMPORTANT PLAQUE BY ADAM FRIEDRICH VON LÖWENFINCK
Fulda, circa 1741–44.
Faience decorated in overglaze technique. Painted in grisaille after Johann Christoph Steinberger’s (1680–1727) engraving "The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple" from the New Testament (Luke 2:22). Depicting the ritual purification of Mary, kneeling to the right of the altar, with Joseph to the left offering two young doves. Simeon, wearing a bishop’s mitre and holding a censer, together with the kneeling prophetess Anna to the left, the Christ Child lying in a halo of glory on the altar table. Above the scene, two monumental temple columns rise into the clouds amid numerous angels. At the lower edge, two angels, one pointing toward the scene at the altar. Signed lower right "A.F.V.Löwenfincken.pinx.".
18.5 × 15.2 cm.
Provenance:
- Antiquités Bastian, Strasbourg.
- Peter Ducret Collection, Kilchberg; acquired from the above in 1982.
Exhibited:
- Ulrich Pietsch: Von Meissen nach Strassburg. Der Porzellan- und Fayencemaler Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck (1714-1754), Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Oct. 1, 2014–Feb. 22, 2014, exhibition catalog, fig. 90, no. 196.
- Gregor K. Stasch: Made in FD. Spitzentechnologie aus der Fuldaer Fayencemanufaktur (1741-1760), Vonderau Museum Fulda, March 13–May 31, 2015, exhibition catalog, ill. p. 96, no. 127.
Literature:
Peter Ducret: Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck als Figuren- und Landschaftsmaler auf Fayence, in: Keramos 100/1983, p. 117-125.
The significance of this rare plaque lies in the rare artist’s signature at the lower right, that of Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck, one of the most celebrated porcelain and faience painters of his time.
His career first took him to Meissen, where he worked as an apprentice from 1727 to 1731 and had already risen to the rank of painter by 1731–36. In 1736, he fled Meissen for Bayreuth, where he remained until 1737, probably moving on to Chantilly from 1737 and apparently working at the Ansbach faience factory in 1740. In 1741, he finally arrived in Fulda, where his brilliant overglaze enamels and early, characteristically colorful Asian floral decoration had a decisive influence on the artistic development of this small but highly important faience manufactory.
Attempts to establish a manufactory in Fulda had begun as early as 1740 under Christian Ruprecht, a Delft-trained "Porcilainmacher". The apparently unsatisfactory results prompted the Prince-Abbot of Fulda, Amand von Buseck (1737–1756; Prince-Bishop from 1752), to seek new solutions. Shortly after Ruprecht’s dismissal, Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck, who had fled Meissen only a few years earlier, arrived on 18 February 1741. With Löwenfinck, the factory soon established by the Prince-Abbot entered a period of exceptional artistic flourishing and offered unique opportunities for the development of many important artists of the period.
Löwenfinck left Fulda in 1744, taking several painters with him who followed him to Höchst. Other important modellers, such as Wenzel Neu, remained (Fulda exhibition 2015).
The quality of the known Fulda plaques is in some cases outstanding; examples that can be attributed to Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck are rare. Works from his Meissen period virtually never bear painter’s signatures, although occasional concealed signatures incorporated into the decoration itself have been discussed.
A second signed plaque, although with a polychrome depiction of the Adoration of the Shepherds, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It bears the somewhat less complete signature at the lower right: "de Löwenfincken pinx" (object no. 45.61.3). The great collector Ralph H. Wark (author of several articles on Löwenfinck in KFS between 1956 and 1958) congratulated Peter Ducret on his acquisition in a letter of November 1982 and emphasized that the "Adoration of the Shepherds" plaque in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, could "without doubt now also be definitively attributed to Adam Friedrich Löwenfinck".
The only other work by Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck bearing an equally complete signature was a miniature painted on enamel, interpreted as a self-portrait of Löwenfinck and signed on the reverse "A.F.v. Löwenfincken.Pinx." (P. Ducret, "Keramos" 100/1983, p. 117). The miniature was formerly in the collection of the Berliner Schlossmuseum and has been missing since the Second World War.
Peter Ducret first published his plaque in "Keramos" in 1983 (ibid.). In addition to comparing it with the signed New York plaque, he compared it with another plaque from Fulda depicting St Aloysius, signed in 1745 by Löwenfinck’s wife, Maria Seraphia Schick (Vonderau Museum, Fulda, inv. no. IVD41; Pietsch 2014, p. 35, fig. 11).
ADAM FRIEDRICH VON LÖWENFINCK (BIALA 1714 – 1754 HAGENAU)
Opulent East Asian chrysanthemums in brilliant colors on imposing large vases, fanciful mythical creatures, and characteristic Chinese figures and landscapes are among the decorative schemes that gave early Meissen porcelain its distinctive character and which A. F. von Löwenfinck played a decisive role in shaping.
In 1727, he entered the service of the most important porcelain manufactory of the early 18th century as an apprentice painter. The court commissioner Johann Gregorius Höroldt kept him under strict discipline, perhaps also out of jealousy. The high esteem in which Löwenfinck’s works are held today was apparently hardly shared by the manufactory at the time. In 1736, he became embroiled in a bitter dispute with the manufactory administration; for exclaiming "der tausend Sacramentische Kerl" at the Geschirrschreiber, he was even punished with imprisonment.
In August 1736, Löwenfinck fled to Bayreuth and joined the faience manufactory leased from the Margrave by Johann Georg Knöller in 1728. Little is known about his time there; an important cylindrical tankard is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In 1741, he finally arrived in Fulda. In 1748, the painter Georg Friedrich Hess reported that Löwenfinck had come to Fulda from Ansbach; there are also references to a period spent in Chantilly.
Initially employed as an enamel painter, he was soon promoted to court enamel painter. In Fulda, he married Maria Seraphia Magdalena Schick, daughter of the "Hoflackier" and faience painter Johann Philipp Schick, one of the co-founders of the Fulda faience manufactory.
When Adam Friedrich left Fulda with his wife in 1744, he established his own faience manufactory at Mainz-Weisenau in 1745 and subsequently moved to Höchst in 1746. There he became a co-founder, partner and director of the Höchst faience manufactory, which received the privilege of the Electorate of Mainz. Five other former Meissen craftsmen also worked there. In February 1749, he was dismissed by the Elector following financial disputes.
That same year he arrived in Strasbourg. In 1750, he settled at the subsidiary operation of the Hannong faience manufactory in Hagenau, where he served as director from 1751. Only a few years later, in 1754, he died at the age of just 40. His wife Maria Seraphia had by then already risen to the ranks of the leading porcelain painters and would shortly thereafter assume the management of both Strasbourg manufactories.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
