A rare Berlin KPM porcelain plate representing the month of May, presumably from a dinner service for Grand Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Model no. 1054. Painted with an allegorical scene of two putti in a garden beneath the astrological sign for Gemini. Blue sceptre mark, painter's mark in red, gold star, pressnummer 32, incised II. D 22.1 cm.
Around 1819.
This striking subject was used twice by KPM for two large royal orders after the Wars of Liberation: once for a dessert plate in the dinner service with the Iron Helmet and secondly for a dinner plate for the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The enigmatic depiction derives from an anonymous pencil drawing, now in the KPM archive, which served as a model for the porcelain painter.
Literature
Cf. cat. Königliche Geschenke. Die Porzellane der Berliner Manufaktur am mecklenburgischen Hof, Schwerin 2019, p. 130 for the archival entry: "Forr His Royal Highness the reigning Grand Duke of Meckl. Strelitz [...] 12 agl: Dinner plate no. 3 with coul: figures depicting the months, together with rich gilding...".
See also cat. Orden auf königlichem Porzellan. Das Tafelservice vom Eisernen Helm und die Feldherrenporzellane der königlichen Porzellanmanufaktur Berlin, Eichenzell 2013, no. 4.283.
A plate with the month of October offered in Lempertz Berlin auction 1047 on 2nd May 2015, lot 122.
A plate with the month of February offered in Lempertz Berlin auction 1193 on 7th May 2022, lot 142.