Pair of vases from the MEISSEN MANUFACTURE. Germany, 19th century.
Enamelled porcelain.
With mark.
Measurements: 76 x 30 cm.
Pair of vases in rococo style, made in the Manufacture of Meissen in the 19th century following the models of the previous century, although approached from a more ornamental and fantastic point of view, already clearly nineteenth century. The basic rules of full rococo are respected: The structure is practically hidden by the decoration in relief, of great bulk; profiles of sinuous lines, general asymmetry and also in the details, absolute naturalism in the decoration and floral theme combined with the figures of children, very typical of European production from the 18th century onwards. Thus, the design is directly inspired by the natural world, with a predominance of flowers modelled by hand and applied separately, whose realism almost deceives the eye. We also see rockery crests, naturalistic scallops, far removed from the classical shell, all kinds of leaves and stems and, at the base, children playing, drinking and picking flowers.
The Meissen Manufactory was the first European factory to produce genuine porcelain. The manufacture was started by the scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tchirnhaus in 1708, and after his untimely death his work was continued by Joahnn Friedrich Bóttges, who remained virtually imprisoned on the factory premises in order to protect the secret of the porcelain formula. Meissen porcelain production began in 1710, a year after the factory was founded by Augustus the Strong, and soon achieved great fame throughout Europe.

In order to prevent forgeries, he introduced his famous mark, two crossed swords, in 1720, making his one of the oldest pottery marks in existence (it still remains on the wares of Meissen's heir firm, the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktúr Meissen GMBHB). Initially, Meissen's production imitated oriental production, especially Japanese kakiemon ("indianische Blumen"), although enamelled pieces with landscape, floral and gallant themes were also produced, the latter derived from the paintings of the French artist Antoine Watteau. However, in 1717 a former Meissen worker, Samuel Stáltzel, sold the secret of porcelain to a manufactory in Vienna, and by 1760 there were about thirty manufacturers of genuine porcelain in Europe. However, most of these manufactories produced soft-paste porcelain, due to the difficulty of accessing kaolin, the basic ingredient of authentic (hard-paste) porcelain. After an initial production of rococo style, which evolved towards neoclassical in the 1750s, in the 19th century we witnessed a new style known as "second rococo", inspired by the first productions of Meissen, which coexisted with other historicisms, among them the sculpture in rounded bulk, mainly in enamelled porcelain, following models of both rococo and neoclassical.