Verdex
Verdex
30 січня 2023, 22:45

Meissen porcelain: miniature temple of Venus

Meissen porcelain: miniature temple of Venus
Johann Gottlieb Kirchner was an 18th-century German fashion sculptor who spent 10 years of his life creating porcelain sculptures in Meissen. One of his works is a miniature temple of Venus with columns in the Ionic style. The copy shown below is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The main characters were ancient Roman characters: Venus with a flaming heart in her hand, a little cupid and Jupiter on the left. In the empty space on the right was a figurine of Juno. The lower part of the miniature contrasts sharply with the antique theme of the central composition. The artist depicted several scenes in the chinoiserie style, using motifs from traditional Chinese painting.
Kirchner made a model of the sculpture in 1727, it is referred to in documents as Venus Tempel ("Temple of Venus"). Based on this sample, several copies were created: three copies were made in 1729, two more were ordered four years later. One of them is kept today in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam): despite the absence of some small details, the figure of Juno has been preserved.
Working on a porcelain model, Gottlieb Kirchner was guided by sources that he inherited from his older brother, Johann Christian Kirchner. The latter collaborated with the court sculptor Balthasar Permoser on the creation of the Zwinger architectural complex in Dresden. It is there that there are two sculptures that have become a model for the figurines of Jupiter and Juno. Venus is modeled after a statue that stood in a manor in the German city of Borna. As for the temple itself, its elements are similar to those of buildings also located in the Zwinger. Despite the quality and beauty of the work, such architectural miniatures did not become the main focus of the Meissen manufactory.

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