Centerpiece; Germany, 20th century

Centerpiece; Germany, 20th century
Glazed porcelain
Bears a stamp on the base
Measurements: 32 x 26 x 26 cm.

Centerpiece made of glazed and gilded porcelain, manufactured in Germany. The bowl, with a flared profile and a wavy scalloped rim, features an openwork upper section encircled by a garland of embossed flowers, while the rim is decorated with delicate borders and the lower section with floral bouquets. The bowl rests on a balustraded shaft, decorated with a border, beneath which are two seated child figures, surrounded by baskets and bouquets of flowers in relief. The entire piece rests on a circular, stepped base, decorated with borders and acanthus leaves, from which four corbel-like elements with acanthus decoration extend.

The city of Dresden and its surrounding region are the birthplace of European porcelain: it was in Meissen, very close to Dresden and under the patronage of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, that in 1708 Johann Friedrich Böttger, together with the scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, succeeded in deciphering the formula for hard-paste porcelain, which until then had been the exclusive monopoly of China and Japan. The Meissen manufactory, founded in 1710, thus became the first in Europe, and its 18th-century production served as a stylistic model for the numerous workshops and decorators who, by the 19th century, had established themselves in Dresden itself, reproducing and reinterpreting these 18th-century designs to meet the demand of collectors of the time.