Pair of Meissen Porcelain Bienenmuster soup plates, circa 1740

Pair of Meissen Porcelain Bienenmuster soup plates.

Circa 1740.

With brown edged petal-shaped rim. Decorated in polychrome enamels with three brightly coloured winged insects around a spray of ‘Indianische blumen’ tied with a ribbon.

The wide rims with floral sprigs in the kakiemon style. The bases with crossed swords mark in underglaze blue and impressed 16.

Although this popular Meissen design is referred to as the ‘bee pattern’ (bienenmuster), neither insects nor flowers bear a strong resemblance to any known species.

Instead, the pattern was developed at the Meissen factory in Saxony by Johann Gregorius Höroldt (1696-1775), who was inspired by Japanese ceramic design and Indian textiles.

Indian textiles were a key element of the global trade of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and floral designs were a favourite theme of the Mughal emperors who ruled the Indian subcontinent at the time.

At first, Mughal court painting depicted floral motifs naturalistically, but under the rule of Shah Jahan (1628-1658), more stylised depictions were favoured and came to dominate Mughal cottons and, consequently, European ceramic design.

For a similar example see Pietsche, U., 2011 ‘Early Meissen Porcelain: The Wark Collection from the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens’, p.250 See also: Hoffmeister 1999, I, no. 143

Provenance: Acquired in 1979.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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