Meissen porcelain bonbonniere, or patch box, modelled as the head of a lady in a black masquerade domino, her powdered hair dressed over a pink ribbon, in a gilt metal mount with a mirrored interior.
Meissen was the first factory in Europe to make true hard paste porcelain, after Johann Friedrich Bottger solved the problem for Augustus the Strong and the works opened in the Albrechtsburg at Meissen in 1710. Small figural boxes of this kind were a speciality of the house, modelled in the round rather than thrown, and they show the factory at its most inventive.
Boxes like this were made for the masquerade, the costumed ball that ran through European court life from the early eighteenth century. A lady carried one for her patches, the small black silk shapes worn on the face, and the box repeated the joke of the mask she was already wearing.
The modelling is careful throughout. The eyes are set with faceted stones so they catch light from inside the mask, the lips are picked out in coral red, and the hair is combed in fine parallel lines under a pink and gilt band. The hinged mount opens to a mirror set into the lid.
The base is closed by the gilt metal mount, so no factory mark is visible.
Dimensions -
Factory: Meissen
Length: 6.5 cm
Width: 5 cm
Height: 4.5 cm
Weight: 94.6 g
Material: Porcelain with gilt metal mount
Interior: Mirrored
Condition :
Very good condition for its age. Some light wear to the gilding on the mount, as expected. Hinge sound and the mirror intact.
Meissen porcelain bonbonniere, or patch box, modelled as the head of a lady in a black masquerade domino, her powdered hair dressed over a pink ribbon, in a gilt metal mount with a mirrored interior.
Meissen was the first factory in Europe to make true hard paste porcelain, after Johann Friedrich Bottger solved the problem for Augustus the Strong and the works opened in the Albrechtsburg at Meissen in 1710. Small figural boxes of this kind were a speciality of the house, modelled in the round rather than thrown, and they show the factory at its most inventive.
Boxes like this were made for the masquerade, the costumed ball that ran through European court life from the early eighteenth century. A lady carried one for her patches, the small black silk shapes worn on the face, and the box repeated the joke of the mask she was already wearing.
The modelling is careful throughout. The eyes are set with faceted stones so they catch light from inside the mask, the lips are picked out in coral red, and the hair is combed in fine parallel lines under a pink and gilt band. The hinged mount opens to a mirror set into the lid.
The base is closed by the gilt metal mount, so no factory mark is visible.
Dimensions -
Factory: Meissen
Length: 6.5 cm
Width: 5 cm
Height: 4.5 cm
Weight: 94.6 g
Material: Porcelain with gilt metal mount
Interior: Mirrored
Condition :
Very good condition for its age. Some light wear to the gilding on the mount, as expected. Hinge sound and the mirror intact.
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