Centerpiece; Germany, 20th century

Centerpiece; Germany, 20th century
Glazed porcelain
Bears a stamp on the base
Measurements: 38 x 28 x 28 cm.

Glazed porcelain bowl or centerpiece, made in Germany, possibly Dresden, based on 18th-century designs. The upper section, with a flared profile, is decorated on the inside with a floral painting on a turquoise background, while the exterior features large openwork and relief leaves, along with small garlands of applied blossoms. It rests on a sculptural group of three nude, seated children intertwined with one another, supporting the upper body on their shoulders. The ensemble rests on a square pedestal, decorated with raised scrollwork.

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.