Tureen Base thumbnail 1
Tureen Base thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 145

Tureen Base

ca. 1740 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The stunning naturalistic decoration on this tureen base reveals the high quality that could be achieved by the Viennese factory at this time. The lizard and the mouse were copied from drawings by Georg Hoefnagel (1542-1600), engraved by his eldest son Jacob Hoefnagel (1575-1640).

Georg Hoefnagel worked in Prague at the court of the Emperor Rudolf II where he could study the Emperor's gardens and all the plants and animals they contained first hand. His engravings were first published in a collection in Amsterdam in 1592 and reflect the strong interest in natural history of the period. More than a century later they provided a rich source of designs for the Vienna porcelain factory.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain painted in enamel colours
Brief description
Oval tureen base of hard-paste porcelain with scroll handles, painted in enamels with strewn flower sprays, a lizard and a mouse, made by the Du Paquier porcelain facotory, Vienna, ca. 1735.
Physical description
Tureen base of hard-paste porcelain of deep oval shape, the rim unglazed, applied with scroll handles, naturalistically painted in enamel colours with sprays of cut flowers and a lizard stalking an insect, the reverse with a rodent, possibly a mouse, the interior with further flower sprays.
Dimensions
  • Height: 16.8cm
  • Diameter: 25.1cm
Subjects depicted
Summary
The stunning naturalistic decoration on this tureen base reveals the high quality that could be achieved by the Viennese factory at this time. The lizard and the mouse were copied from drawings by Georg Hoefnagel (1542-1600), engraved by his eldest son Jacob Hoefnagel (1575-1640).

Georg Hoefnagel worked in Prague at the court of the Emperor Rudolf II where he could study the Emperor's gardens and all the plants and animals they contained first hand. His engravings were first published in a collection in Amsterdam in 1592 and reflect the strong interest in natural history of the period. More than a century later they provided a rich source of designs for the Vienna porcelain factory.
Bibliographic references
  • Kräftner, Johann,ed. Baroque Luxury Porcelain: The Manufacturers of Du Paquier in Vienna and of Carlo Ginori in Florence , with text by Claudia Lehner-Jobst, Andreina d'Agliano and others, Liechtenstein Museum, Prestel, 2005, p.263
  • See Ceramics & Glass Section Object Information File
Collection
Accession number
C.180-1938

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Record createdMarch 9, 2006
Record URL
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