Marcolini period wall clock from the MEISSEN MANUFACTURE;... Lot 159

Marcolini period wall clock from the MEISSEN MANUFACTURE; Germany, ca. 1800. Enamelled porcelain. Marking on the reverse. Some faults and defects. Measurements: 90 x 45 x 27 cm. Wall clock entirely made of porcelain, moulded and delicately enamelled with high and low temperature tones, including gilding. It has a white dial with Roman numerals in blue for the hours and Arabic numerals in black for the minutes, with openwork hands in a classicist style. The dial is part of a complex sculptural structure, entirely defined by the rounded elements of which it is composed, with no underlying structure, architectural or otherwise, visible. Thus, the profile of the piece, its relief and its forms are entirely defined by the round figures, animals, flowers, shells and scrolls that together make up the piece. In the lower part we see the god Neptune in his chariot pulled by four sea horses, guided by a small triton with two fish tails instead of legs. The chariot, formed by a large, meticulously enamelled and naturalistically enamelled venery, is surrounded by large flowers, each one handmade one by one, which represent the earth. Below is the sea, represented by the great wave that the horses are riding, under which we can see a very rich marine decoration, with all kinds of shells, snails and corals accompanied by flowers, all the elements worked with such realism that they deceive the eye. In the central area of the piece, around the clock face, the motifs are mainly flowers and classical vegetalised vegetalised turnstones, with some scallops and the figures of two classical 'putti' that seem to float among the flowers. It should be noted that each of these decorative elements, both the flowers and the shells in the lower area, are modelled one by one by hand, applied and enamelled individually. Finally, above the clock, we see the plane corresponding to the sky, with rockery crests that evoke clouds through their soft blue tones, framing the figure of the god Aeolus, king of the winds, represented as a Herculean winged old man. This is a sample of Meissen's production from the period when the factory was under the direction of Camillo Marcolini, between 1774 and 1814. His direction marked the definitive shift from Rococo to Neoclassicism and the subsequent refinement of the forms and decorations introduced by his predecessor. Meissen pieces of this period were marked with the two crossed swords characteristic of the Manufacture, to which was added a star, all enamelled in underglaze cobalt blue. The Meissen Manufactory was the first European factory to produce genuine porcelain. Production was started by the scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tchirnhaus in 1708, and after his untimely death his work was continued by Joahnn Friedrich Böttger, who remained virtually imprisoned on the factory premises in order to protect the secret of the porcelain formula. The production of Meissen porcelain began in 1710, one year after the factory was founded by Augustus the Strong, and soon achieved great fame throughout Europe. In order to prevent forgeries, he introduced his famous mark, two crossed swords, in 1720, making his one of the oldest pottery marks in existence (it still remains on the wares of Meissen's heir firm, the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GMBH). Initially, Meissen's production imitated oriental production, especially Japanese kakiemon ("indianische Blumen"), although enamelled pieces with landscape, floral and gallant themes were also produced, the latter derived from the paintings of the French painter Antoine Watteau. Undecorated glazed porcelain pieces were also produced and sold to other workshops, where they were decorated with enamels.