A Höchst porcelain ornithological coffee and hot chocolate service, circa 1755
Estimate
5,000 - 8,000 EUR
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Description
each piece painted with vignettes of different birds perched in branches, including hoopoes, finches, and parrots, and with scattered insects, including moths, beetles, ladybirds, dragonflies and caterpillars, within gilt-line rims, comprising:
a large coffee pot and cover,
a small coffee pot and cover,
a hot chocolate pot and cover,
a waste bowl,
six coffee cups,
six teacups,
and twelve saucers,
wheel marks in iron-red enamel and impressed K to most pieces
(31)
Height of large coffee pot 25 cm; 9 ⅞ in
This rare service combines studies of exotic and European birds with remarkably detailed depictions of various insects. The 17th and 18th centuries saw a burgeoning interest in the natural sciences and with it came the publication of numerous illustrated volumes describing the flora and fauna of specific regions and continents. These included the works of Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), a German-Dutch entomologist, naturalist, and scientific illustrator—daughter of Matthäus Merian the Elder—who created significant illustrated books on insects and plants. Inspired by these seminal works, the zoologist, miniature painter, and engraver Johann August Rösel von Rosenhof (1705–1759) published his Der monatlich herausgegebene Insecten-Belustigung (Insect Amusement) in four parts between 1746 and 1761, featuring 289 plates. Porcelain painters drew upon these works for their detailed and scientifically accurate depictions of beetles, spiders, flies, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and butterflies. For further discussion of bird and insect decoration on Höchst porcelain see Patricia Stahl, Höchster Porzellan 1746-1796, Katalog zur Ausstellung Höchster Porzellan, Heidelberg, 1994, p. 62-63.
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