Porcelain Chocolate Pot. Meissen 1740 Circa

Porcelain Chocolate Pot
Meissen, 1740 Circa
It measures: 7.87 in in height x 9,65 x 6,50 (20 cm x 24.5 x 16.5)
It weighs: 2 lb (920 g)
State of conservation: perfect, except for a slim crack caused by heat on the base and a small portion of the lower part of the body. The crack is covered by a thin layer of bisque (biscuit) applied to the bottom. There is also a slight chip on the lid.

The chocolate pot has a cylindrical fluted body with rounded shoulders and a short cylindrical neck that opens into a circular mouth. The fluted lid with a flat base and rounded rim fits onto the mouth. The fluted relief pattern runs around the shoulder and along the entire surface of the pot, which rests on a flat, unglazed base. Just below the shoulder is the spout, which is curved and shaped at the base. A rocaille segment extends along the side of the container has a long, turned wooden handle attached.

Various metal elements adorn the piece. On the outside of the lid there is the handle and a hole for ventilation, which also allows a stirrer to be inserted to mix the chocolate. Inside, three flexible elements anchor the cover to the container when it is placed on top. The wooden handle, decorated with an engraved brass plate, is inserted into the porcelain.

The polychrome and gold decorations feature a floral motif in shades of purple-pink, orange and light green and extend across the whole surface. Underneath the base, the blue mark of crossed swords is barely legible.

The floral pattern of this decoration derives from the Tischchen-Muster (small table pattern) and is clearly inspired by Japanese Imari and Kakiemon porcelain. This ornament was typically used for porcelain intended to serve chocolate, tea and coffee. This decoration developed in the early years of European porcelain production. It coincided with the spread of the fashion for Japanese Arita or Imari porcelain, inspired by the works of Sakaïda Kakiemon and in keeping with Chinese decorative motifs. Meissen was one of the first manufacturers to interpret this style in its own original way, presenting oriental motifs (stars, peonies, chrysanthemums) in a colour palette that included pigments of fiery red, purple, yellow and two shades of green, combined with an intense blue underglaze and gold overglaze.

This chocolate pot can be attributed with certainty to the Saxon manufacturer Meissen, as evidenced by the mark with crossed swords under the base. Generally, chocolate pots have smooth or vertically grooved sides. Our example is comparable to other pieces of tableware with similar dimensions and decorations: the hard-paste chocolate pot in the Victoria and Albert Museum with purple oriental flower decoration (inv. C.114&A-1911), which can be dated to between 1760 and 1770, and the chocolate pot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with potato flower decoration (inv. 94.4.299), which can be dated to around the 1740s. The shape of the porcelain spout and handle is also similar to that of a chocolate pot dating from between 1735 and 1740. This pot is also preserved at the MET (inv. 42.205.136a, b) and features small oriental-style flowers on a sea-green background. The fluted shape also characterises a piece with monochromatic purple decoration from the Cagnola Collection at Villa Cagnola, dating from 1770 (L. Melegati, in AAVV, La Collezione Cagnola. II. Le arti decorative. Arazzi - Sculture - Mobili - Ceramiche, Busto Arsizio 1999, p. 258, no. 94). Finally, a chocolate pot with chinoiserie decoration, similar in shape to ours, is preserved in the David Collection in Copenhagen and can be dated between 1735 and 1750. (E. Lassen Davids Samling, Meissen porcelæn. Die Sammlung David, Meissen Porzellan, Copenaghen, 1985, p. 100, n. 34).

The chocolate pot features rich gold decoration painted over the blue underglaze, highlighting the design and enhancing its aesthetic value. The use of gold to decorate pieces was particularly characteristic in the early years of production, when Hausmaler painters, known for purchasing white pieces or those decorated in blue underglaze, applied the decoration primarily in gold. In this chocolate pot, however, the gold is reserved for the blue underglazed parts, while the polychrome decoration is well defined and consistent with the quality of the work. The technique of applying gold and the similarity to the style of the Hausmaler painter F. J. Ferner suggest a date after 1730, when the manufactory began to limit the sale of unfinished pieces to counteract the growing number of external painters. It can be assumed that, in the 1740s, decorators worked on finished or defective products purchased from retailers' stocks.
However, the decoration and gold appear to be contemporary: the edges, the cover, the dividing lines of the metopes and part of the bouquets painted in cobalt blue under the glaze suggest that the design of the edges was defined at the same time as the glaze was fired.
The interaction between the blue underglaze and the gold, which is particularly elaborate and precise, leads us to believe that this piece was intended from the outset to be considered a precious work. Its size, the refinement of the materials and the metalwork confirm this interpretation.

Bibliography:

Melegati L., in AAVV, La Collezione Cagnola. II. Le arti decorative. Arazzi - Sculture - Mobili - Ceramiche, Busto Arsizio, 1999;
Lassen E., Davids Samling, Meissen porcelæn. Die Sammlung David, Meissen Porzellan, Copenaghen, 1985.