~ Antique Continental Meissen Porcelain Figure of a Lady at a Pedestal Table, Rococo Revival Style, Late 19th Century ~
A charming porcelain figure of a young lady in 18th-century dress, depicted leaning against a tall, slender pedestal table with a gilt top. She wears a lilac bodice with gilt piping over a voluminous white skirt scattered with hand-painted pink rose sprigs, with a pale green underskirt showing beneath, and pink slippers with blue rosettes. Her hair is swept up and decorated with painted pink roses and a blue ribbon, and she holds a small blue-painted item in her raised hand. The figure stands on a naturalistic mound base, mounted on a separate stepped oval porcelain plinth. The reverse of the base carries an underglaze blue painted monogram mark.
Historical Context
Figures of this type belong to a long tradition of porcelain "fancy" or genre figures depicting elegantly dressed ladies in 18th-century-style dress, a fashion that became enormously popular across European porcelain factories during the second half of the 19th century as a nostalgic revival of the Rococo taste associated with Meissen and Sèvres of the previous century. Such figures were produced in large numbers by both major and minor continental factories, often aimed at the export and decorative market for display on mantelpieces, side tables and in cabinets. The pseudo-armorial monogram mark to the base is typical of the type of mark used by various continental makers of this period to evoke the prestige of earlier porcelain traditions, and pieces of this style are commonly catalogued generically as "Continental porcelain" given the difficulty of attributing them to a specific factory with certainty. The hand-applied floral sprigs, gilt highlights, and softly modelled drapery are characteristic of the more affordable end of this genre, made for a growing middle-class market for decorative porcelain.
Condition Report
Overall sound condition commensurate with age. The figure shows general surface wear and light dirt/dust ingrained to the recessed folds of the skirt and base, as is typical of pieces of this age and type.
No obvious cracks are visible, apart from under the raised arm and the missing fan, which is not significant.
