Girl Figurine
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Object description
Porcelain is a noble and the most refined type of ceramics. It is fashioned from a blend of various clay varieties, primarily composed of kaolin. The body is either coated with a transparent glaze or left unglazed, which is known as biscuit porcelain. The wares undergo at least two main stages of thermal treatment and are fired at exceptionally high temperatures. Fine ceramic objects are characterised by their white colour, resonance, strength, and translucency. Two fundamentally different decoration methods are employed in its production: relief modelling and painting.
Porcelain originated in China around the 6th–7th centuries, where the secret of its manufacture was closely guarded. Chinese porcelain items reached Europe during the Middle Ages and were valued more highly than gold, which later earned them the moniker "white gold". For centuries, European masters attempted to replicate this material, creating only fragile, soft imitations instead. The secret of the Chinese craftsmen was finally unlocked only at the beginning of the 18th century in Saxony.
The first manufacture in Europe to produce hard-paste porcelain was founded in 1710 by the Saxon Elector and King of Poland, Augustus II the Strong, near Dresden in the town of Meissen. Its establishment followed the development of kaolin clay mines and the invention of the porcelain paste recipe in 1709 by the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger. Throughout the 18th century, the Meissen manufacture experienced its most illustrious period of flourish, shaped by the work of such prominent masters as Johann Gregor Höroldt, Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, Johann Joachim Kändler, Michel Victor Acier, and others. This was an era of bold experimentation, technological refinement, and the creation of iconic models.
Apart from the world-renowned Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, numerous other porcelain factories operated throughout Germany. Chief among these was the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin (KPM). No less popular was the production of the enterprises in Dresden, Nymphenburg, Volkstedt, Ludwigsburg, Frankenthal, and Selb.
A striking example of the development of this German artistic tradition is the presented porcelain figurine, depicting a girl in a traditional costume with a raised apron. The plastic solution of the figurine is built on a graceful, slightly coquettish movement: with a refined gesture of her left hand, the young woman raises the edge of her white dotted apron, revealing a skirt with thin pink and green stripes. Complex colouristic modelling of the clothing combines pastoral pink, lilac, and soft green shades of the bodice, referencing the refined aesthetics of late Rococo and early Classicism. Particular attention is drawn to the delicate painting of the face and the detailing of the elegant headdress with a pink ribbon.
The bottom of the product bears an underglaze blue mark, which suggests that the piece may belong to the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin ("KPM Berlin"). Alongside, there is an author's mark of the master-moulder in the form of letters "F.M." impressed into the paste. Sculpture is characterised by high artistic quality of execution, poetic naivety of the image, and stands as a characteristic specimen of German cabinet plastic art of its era.
Porcelain originated in China around the 6th–7th centuries, where the secret of its manufacture was closely guarded. Chinese porcelain items reached Europe during the Middle Ages and were valued more highly than gold, which later earned them the moniker "white gold". For centuries, European masters attempted to replicate this material, creating only fragile, soft imitations instead. The secret of the Chinese craftsmen was finally unlocked only at the beginning of the 18th century in Saxony.
The first manufacture in Europe to produce hard-paste porcelain was founded in 1710 by the Saxon Elector and King of Poland, Augustus II the Strong, near Dresden in the town of Meissen. Its establishment followed the development of kaolin clay mines and the invention of the porcelain paste recipe in 1709 by the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger. Throughout the 18th century, the Meissen manufacture experienced its most illustrious period of flourish, shaped by the work of such prominent masters as Johann Gregor Höroldt, Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, Johann Joachim Kändler, Michel Victor Acier, and others. This was an era of bold experimentation, technological refinement, and the creation of iconic models.
Apart from the world-renowned Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, numerous other porcelain factories operated throughout Germany. Chief among these was the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin (KPM). No less popular was the production of the enterprises in Dresden, Nymphenburg, Volkstedt, Ludwigsburg, Frankenthal, and Selb.
A striking example of the development of this German artistic tradition is the presented porcelain figurine, depicting a girl in a traditional costume with a raised apron. The plastic solution of the figurine is built on a graceful, slightly coquettish movement: with a refined gesture of her left hand, the young woman raises the edge of her white dotted apron, revealing a skirt with thin pink and green stripes. Complex colouristic modelling of the clothing combines pastoral pink, lilac, and soft green shades of the bodice, referencing the refined aesthetics of late Rococo and early Classicism. Particular attention is drawn to the delicate painting of the face and the detailing of the elegant headdress with a pink ribbon.
The bottom of the product bears an underglaze blue mark, which suggests that the piece may belong to the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin ("KPM Berlin"). Alongside, there is an author's mark of the master-moulder in the form of letters "F.M." impressed into the paste. Sculpture is characterised by high artistic quality of execution, poetic naivety of the image, and stands as a characteristic specimen of German cabinet plastic art of its era.
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