Teabowl with Chinoiserie decoration

Decorator Ignaz Preissler Bohemian

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 964

This cup decorated with an iron-red band of rinceaux and strapwork populated with Chinese figures is the match to the saucer (50.211.250) already in The Met’s collection. The cup’s decoration is characteristic of the inventive Chinoiserie decorations by Ignaz Preissler, who gained fame alongside his father Daniel as an independent decorator of porcelain and glass. The Preissler workshop painted on a variety of surfaces, including examples of Jingdezhen porcelain that featured earlier forms of Chinese decoration, as seen in the underglaze blue rim on this tea bowl. Based in the Kolowrat estates in Hapbsurg-controlled Bohemia, the Preissler workshop brought great ingenuity and imagination to Chinoiserie designs that moved beyond strict copies of Asian examples. Unlike independent decorators from the free city of Nurenburg who signed their works, Daniel and Ignaz Preissler never included their names. Described as Kolowrat serfs, their commissions were closely dictated by Baron Kolowrat, who also provided them with blank porcelains and glass to decorate.

Teabowl with Chinoiserie decoration, Ignaz Preissler (Bohemian, Bedřichovka ca.1676–1741 Kunstàt), Jingdezhen porcelain with underglaze blue border, decorated in iron-red enamel and gold decoration, Chinese, Jingdezhen with Bohemian, Kronstadt (present-day Kunstàt, Czech Republic) decoration

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Image courtesy of Errol Manners