A Vienna Plate, decorated with flowers in the Chinese manner, circa 1750
This Vienna plate is beautifully painted in a famille rose palette with flowers and a butterfly in flight. The outer rim is painted with four stylised flower sprays and Daoist emblems, the latter heightened with gilt. The use of gold with turquoise, orange and yellow enamels makes an attractive combination, and is not unlike that employed by du Paquier at Vienna in the 1730s.
Fully marked to the base with a striped shield in underglaze blue, overglaze iron-red enamel Z and i0.and an incised Z, O and I0.
Founded in 1718 by Claudius Innocentius du Paquier, the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory was only the second establishment after Meissen to produce hard paste porcelain in Europe. In 1744, ownership of the manufactory passed to the Imperial State under the Empress Maria Theresa, after which time pieces were marked with a shield denoting the arms of the Dukes of Austria.
See Wiener Porzellan, pl.34, no.193 for a similar plate.
Condition: Excellent – no chips, cracks or restoration.
Dimensions: Diameter 24 cm
Wiener Porzellan, 1718-1864, W. Mrazek & W. Neuwirth (1970).