Figurine of a Young Person
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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.
The embodiment of the refined culture and aesthetic ideals of German porcelain centres is the presented statuette, titled Figurine of a Young Person and executed in Rococo style. The plastic composition of the piece transmits the emphasised theatricality, grace, and ease of the 18th-century aristocratic lifestyle. The cavalier is presented in an elegant pose: his movements are filled with light coquetry, and the sophisticated turn of his torso lends a particular dynamism to the silhouette. A masterpiece of modelling is evident in the delicate treatment of historical costume details – a tailored blue coat, a yellow vest, green culottes, and elegant buckled shoes, which stand as classic attributes of the court fashion of that era.
The colouristic solution is characterised by the use of a palette with bright accents and delicate gilding typical of the Rococo spectrum. The miniature painting of the face is distinguished by special subtlety, conveying the emotional lightness and elevated naivety of the image. The sculpture demonstrates a high level of craftsmanship in painting and three-dimensional plastic art, representing the tradition of creating cabinet porcelain sculpture for interior decoration, which acquired special popularity and a poetic resonance within the German artistic environment.
The bottom of the product bears a pale blue underglaze mark, covered by a later inventory number, the clear identification of which is difficult. The stylistics of the figurine and the nature of the painting point to European production of the 19th century in the 18th-century Rococo style.
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.
The embodiment of the refined culture and aesthetic ideals of German porcelain centres is the presented statuette, titled Figurine of a Young Person and executed in Rococo style. The plastic composition of the piece transmits the emphasised theatricality, grace, and ease of the 18th-century aristocratic lifestyle. The cavalier is presented in an elegant pose: his movements are filled with light coquetry, and the sophisticated turn of his torso lends a particular dynamism to the silhouette. A masterpiece of modelling is evident in the delicate treatment of historical costume details – a tailored blue coat, a yellow vest, green culottes, and elegant buckled shoes, which stand as classic attributes of the court fashion of that era.
The colouristic solution is characterised by the use of a palette with bright accents and delicate gilding typical of the Rococo spectrum. The miniature painting of the face is distinguished by special subtlety, conveying the emotional lightness and elevated naivety of the image. The sculpture demonstrates a high level of craftsmanship in painting and three-dimensional plastic art, representing the tradition of creating cabinet porcelain sculpture for interior decoration, which acquired special popularity and a poetic resonance within the German artistic environment.
The bottom of the product bears a pale blue underglaze mark, covered by a later inventory number, the clear identification of which is difficult. The stylistics of the figurine and the nature of the painting point to European production of the 19th century in the 18th-century Rococo style.
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Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
