DATED 1899, IMPRESSED SCEPTRE AND UPPER CASE KPM MARK

Name: A MONUMENTAL BERLIN (K.P.M.) PORCELAIN PLAQUE
Brand: DATED 1899, IMPRESSED SCEPTRE AND UPPER CASE KPM MARK
Price: 45000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 56,250

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GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000

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A MONUMENTAL BERLIN (K.P.M.) PORCELAIN PLAQUE

DATED 1899, IMPRESSED SCEPTRE AND UPPER CASE KPM MARK

Price Realised GBP 56,250

Details Lot Essay More from

Finely painted with an allegorical scene using elements and characters from Norse myth to represent Summer, signed and dated in the lower left corner 'Copiert nach Prof. H. Prell von L. Scherf 1899', the reverse inscibed in blue 'Sommer' nach Prof. H. Prell'
21¹⁄₈ in. (53.5 cm.) high; 45¹⁄₈ in. (114.5 cm.) wide, overall

Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square ( ¦ ) not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite.If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale.Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only.Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

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Lot Essay

This lot has been in the same ownership in a Continental European Collection since it was acquired at the time of manufacture.

The scene on this plaque is taken from the original mural painted by the German artist Hermann Prell (1854-1922), for the throne room of the then Prussian Embassy in Rome, the Palazzo Caffarelli. It is illustrated by Franz Hermann Meissener in , Dresden, 1899, p. 51.

Hermann Prell was personally commissioned to design the murals for the throne room of the German Embassy in Rome by Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941). Prell was one of the most sought after artists for large murals such as these in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His mythological motifs were particularly popular in the Wilhelmine Empire. For the murals in the Palazzo Caffarelli, Prell decided to use the seasons as his inspiration, integrated with various characters and motifs from Norse mythology taken from the Medieval text, . Prell painted three murals for the throne room, each representing a season; Winter, Spring and Summer. Interestingly, there was no mural for Autumn.

In 1918 at the end of the First World War, the Palazzo Cafarelli was confiscated from the Germans by the Italians and the murals were returned to Berlin. The throne room was then subsequently destroyed. Once returned to Berlin, the murals were kept in the cellars of the Foreign Ministry on Wilhelmstrasse along with other works also returned from the Palazzo, until a decision could be made as to where to display them in order to make them accessible to the wider public. Unfortunately no decision was made, and the murals, still in the cellar, were destroyed in 1945.

A copy of the original mural design is held by the Museen der Stadt, Dresden, museum no. 1989/k 237.

1. The lack of an Autumn mural may be because histroically Germany did not seperate Autumn and Winter as two seperate seasons, leaving only three seasons a year. See Franz Hermann Meissener in , Dresden, 1899, p. 28.