Beschreibung:

Plaque du Nouvel An en grès Böttger, Meissen, circa 1918, E.A non numérotée A Meissen Böttger stoneware New Year Plaque, circa 1918Unnumbered Artist's Example Of rectangular form with a moulded frame and modelled in low relief, lightly polished, depicting a putto scattering flowers from a cornucopia seated on the back of a horse below a ribbon inscribed 'Ihren Freunden', beneath the horse the inscriptions 'P. SCHEURICH' above the dates 1918-19 and 'DIE STAATLICHE/ PORZELLAN-MANUFAKTUR/ IN MEISSEN', pierced for hanging on the reverse of the frame, 19.5cm by 14.7cm, impressed crossed swords mark above '100 AUSFORMUNGEN/ No'FootnotesLiterature: Rafael 1995a, ill. 13.1 Exhibited: Meissen, Schauhalle der Staatlichen Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Paul Scheurich 1883-1945 Porzellane für die Meissener Manufaktur, 21 September 1995-10 January 1996; Meissen, Museum der Meissen Porzellan-Stiftung, Paul Scheurich Porzellangestalter Zeichner Grafiker, 6 March 2020-21 February 2021 One of Max Adolf Pfeiffer's first initiatives when he became Director of the Meissen manufactory in November 1918 was the introduction of a New Year's gift of a plaque for friends of the manufactory, artists and collectors. Only the best artists were entrusted with these commissions, for which they were allowed complete artistic freedom. The New Year's plaques were also a signal of Pfeiffer's intention that ceramics should become a medium of modern art. Another of Pfeiffer's initiatives was the revival of stoneware production at Meissen, in which he was assisted by the manufactory chemist, William Funk. Known as 'Böttger stoneware', after the manufactory's founder, it was produced for a few years from 1710 until the manufactory perfected the production of white porcelain after which production and interest in the material lapsed. Pfeiffer recognised the possibilities of the material and, in particular, its suitability for modern art (polished stoneware could be a more affordable alternative of comparable quality for sculptures that were otherwise only executed in bronze). Stoneware is especially suited to small-scale plaques and medallions this art reached new heights of artistic quality under Pfeiffer's directorship with medallions by artists such as Scheurich, Paul Börner, Max Esser and even Oskar Kokoschka Paul Scheurich's New Year's plaque for 1919 was not only the manufactory's first, it was also the first limited edition signed by the artist, and it was the first modern work of art in the newly-revived Böttger stoneware; it merged the oldest tradition of the manufactory with the newest artistic taste. The manufactory purchased the model on 18 November 1918 for RM 200 and it was initially produced in an edition of 100 (50 in biscuit porcelain [nos. 1-50] and 50 in Böttger stoneware [nos. 51-100]).