Leaf-Shaped Dessert Dish Dish

The delicately modeled face of a sunflower on this dish is largely negated by the incongruous application of enamel flowers to its surface. This dissonance reflects the challenge that sculptural works posed to factory decorators, many of whom would have been trained to execute standard motifs, such as these scattered bouquets of deutsche blumen- naturalistic German style flowers. As the popularity of sculptural porcelain mounted, painters often found their work marginalized. The delicately painted veins in the flower’s leaves indicate the success an object could achieve when form and decoration harmonized.

Plant shaped dishes were an extremely popular conceit during the eighteenth century. Small, unusually-shaped porcelain dishes exported from Japan’s Arita kilns inspired Western potters. Large trompe-l'oeil tureens modelled after vegetal forms were a further expression of the rococo interest in naturalistic decoration.

Leaf-Shaped Dessert Dish Dish; Manufactured by Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Germany); Germany; hard paste porcelain, vitreous enamel, gold; H x W x L: 5 x 22.5 x 24 cm (1 15/16 x 8 7/8 x 9 7/16 in.); Bequest of Georgiana L. McClellan; 1953-17-57-c