A Vienna, Sorgenthal, Porcelain Red-Ground Chinoiserie Cup and Saucer, circa 1794

Anonymous sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 4 November, 2021, lot 1037;

Where acquired by the present collector.

Under the directorship of Conrad von Sorgenthal (1784-1805), the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory embraced the late eighteenth-century European fascination with East Asian lacquerwares, producing striking porcelains that closely imitated Chinese and Japanese black and red lacquer decorated with chinoiserie scenes. These highly sophisticated wares translated the rich visual effects of lacquer into enamel on porcelain and became one of the factory's most distinctive decorative achievements. Their popularity appears to have endured for well over a decade, as surviving examples bearing date marks span from the early 1790s into the opening years of the nineteenth century.

A cup and saucer of the present form and decoration dated 1801 is preserved in the Iparművészeti Múzeum, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest (acc. no. 4098.a-b). Further comparable examples demonstrate the longevity of the pattern: one dated 1792, from the collection of the late Villiers David, was sold at Christie's London, 7 October 1985, lot 67, while another dated 1802 was sold at Sotheby's Geneva, 15 November 1988, lot 36. Several examples also bear the painter's mark of Jakob Peter, brother-in-law of Anton Kothgasser, who is recorded in the factory archives as a landscape painter between 1783 and 1801.

Related Literature

C. Lehner-Jobst and E. Sturm-Bednarczyk, Wiener Porzellan des Klassizismus: die Ära Conrad von Sorgenthal 1784-1805, Vienna, 2000, p. 82, cat. no. 61;

C. Lehner-Jobst in M. Kopplin, Schwartz Porcelain, Die Leidenschaft für Lack und Ihre Wirkung auf das Europäische Porzellan, Munich, 2003, p. 232, cat. no. 108.