BERLIN, manufacture KPM Lot n° 160

Important potpourri covered in white porcelain with a wickerwork relief border. Polychrome painted decoration of flowers, country scenes or meal scenes from an engraving by Hogarth. The grip of the lid consists of a figure of Bacchus child in a round hump. Louis XVI style frame in chased and gilt bronze with openwork ovum decoration, laurel leaves for the handles, a frieze of pearls and an up to date pedestal. 19th century. Height : 40 cm. Slight gilding wear. William Hogarth (1697-1764) probably influenced by Dutch genre scenes, started the fashion of "Conversations pieces". His satirical engravings had a certain success all over Europe. He did not hesitate to reproduce London life, its wanderings, the pleasures and moral contradictions of his time. On our German porcelain, it is the engraving "A Modern Midnight Conversation" from 1732-33 that is reproduced, showing a meeting where flowing alcohol makes the bourgeois lose all distinction.