Object History
tanding 110 cm (3 ft 7 in) high these impressive vases are magnificent examples of the art of painting on porcelain which was perfected in Belle Epoque Vienna.
These vases are decorated by Franz Dörfl whose studio specialised in Vienna Style porcelain and was active 1880-1923. The ‘F/ D’ shield mark is the decorators mark used at Franz Dörfl from 1902. The painting to the bodies is signed by Steller and the base roundels by F. Hiebl. Both worked for Franz Dörfl and are well-documented for their fine painting on porcelain.
The ‘Hunting Party of Diana’ was painted in 1880-1 by Hans Makart (Austrian, 1840-1884). A monumental canvas measuring over four meters high and nearly nine meters across, the ‘Hunting Party of Diana’ is held by many to be Makart’s best work. It is today in the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. An internationally acclaimed Austrian artist known for his colourful and detailed historical paintings, Makart was popular with Vienna’s porcelain painters. Their favourite subject was Makart’s five female nudes representing the senses, which with its bright colours and phenomenal detail could be most brilliantly transcribed onto porcelain. The companion vase is painted with figures representing the dance of the lights. The nymphs fly through the air playing music and radiating beauty. They recall the Will’o the Wisp folktale of fairies who emit a phosphorescent glow, to conspire to mislead travellers by night. The source of the composition is not known, but stylistically it is also reminiscent of the work of Hans Makart.
Porcelain of this type and dating to this time is called ‘Vienna Style’ because it is in the style of old-Vienna porcelain. It is a revival of the type made by the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory during the Sorgenthal period, 1784-1805. The Vienna Porcelain Manufactory closed in 1864 and many of the old patterns and ceramic moulds were bought by other factories, such as Herand in Hungary and Hutschenreuther in Germany. Small shops, or painting studios, in Vienna bought undecorated blanks from these factories and competed to employ the best painters to decorate their wares. The preferred decoration for Vienna Style porcelain harked back to the golden age of the manufactory, when under the directorship of Konrad von Sorgenthal, it produced neoclassical designs in bright colours with extensive use of gold, and very detailed paintings of botanical, topographical, and Classical compositions, often after Old Masters. By the late nineteenth century such decoration had become universally known as ‘Vienna Style’ and was imitated widely.
The best Vienna Style porcelain continued to be decorated in Vienna where many of the finest painters on porcelain were employed. Painters apprenticed in Vienna went on to work at other manufactories such as Meissen and KPM. Young painters at this time often preferred contemporary subjects, creating their own artistic compositions or transcribing contemporary paintings, rather than Old Master subjects, onto porcelain.
The most prized Vienna Style pieces are large vases which date to the turn of the twentieth century when technological advances in pottery meant vases of truly impressive scale could be made and the skill of the painters was at its best. The most prized Vienna Style porcelain vases are decorated with copies of priceless paintings in the city’s Kunsthistorisches Museum or with paintings by contemporary Austrian artists. In this way, such vases are a celebration of Austrian art. Vienna Style porcelain was made for exhibition and export as well as for wealthy tourists who might want a souvenir of their visit to Vienna’s museums and palaces.
