An Iron-red Klapmuts, Augustus The Strong - China, 18th Kangxi Period

A Chinese porcelain ‘Klapmuts’ bowl decorated in iron-red. The lower part is decorated with a band of stylised flowers reserved in white on a red ground. The body is decorated with flowering chrysanthemum plants. The central interior medallion is decorated with a peony.
China, 18th
Kangxi period (1661–1722)

Diameter : 20,1cm
Height : 7,7cm

For two identical bowls, see:

- Dresden Collection, Johanneum, Inv. PO 6617, N 109 / Inv. PO 6618, N 109

Provenance:

- Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony

The reverse bears the incised inventory mark N 109 from the collection of Augustus the Strong, with an arrow mark below.

The inventory of Augustus the Strong records forty bowls with everted rims, five of which were in poor condition:

“Vierzig Stück Jattes oder Näpfe mit überschlagenen Rändern, davon 5 Stk. defect. No. 109.”

Augustus the Strong (1670–1733), King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, maintained throughout his life a particular interest in the arts, and especially in porcelain. His almost obsessive passion for the it led him, alongside his collection of Meissen porcelain—which included almost every piece produced at the manufactory—to collect the very essence of porcelain itself: Japanese and Chinese porcelain, from which the Meissen manufactory drew inspiration in its quest to create fine hard-paste porcelain.

Two professionally restored rim chips, one with an associated hairline, a non-penetrating star-shaped hairline crack beneath the base, almost imperceptible.

Further information and photographs available upon request.