A large and impressive London International Exhibition vase Meissen, dated 1862

by Carl August Müller, signed, the campana form painted in the 'majolica-style' with two leaf-shaped scroll handles terminating in  leopard's heads, painted around the bowl with a continuous scene of the Bath of Venus with female attendants and Cupid on one side and a pair of lovers with cherubs and a pair of tied doves on the other, he seated on a sofa holding a lyre, she wearing a robe, with touches of gilding, all below a narrow band of cherubs and birds on a blue ground, the lower section painted and gilt with scroll above a waisted stem with octagonal 'jewels', the domed foot with a frieze of cherubs, putti and a variety of large wild cats and animals

Dr.K.Berling, Festschrift zur 200 Jährigen Jubelfeier der Ältesten Europäischen Porzellanmanufaktur Meissen, 1910

A vase of the same form and painted with a scene from classical mythology is illustrated in the Art Journal catalogue for the London International Exhibition of 1862, p.87. The current lot is mentioned by Berling (op.cit., p.93): "Eines der wichtigsten Ereignisse dieser Periode war die Londoner Ausstellung von 1862, an der sich die Meißner Manufaktur mit einer sehr starken Kollektion beteiligte. Schnorr hatte zwei Vasen "a la Majolica" entworfen und die Malerei zu einer anderen (das Dianabad von Albano) "arrangiert". Berling's comment about the vase painted with the Bath of Diana presumably refers to the present lot.

Carl August Müller was one of the leading artists at the Meissen factory from 1855 to 1870.