Exclusive Collection Vase Peacock Splendour

A peacock and hen, elegantly rendered in fabulous colours, stand side by side in utter harmony. The male proudly protects its peahen mate, displaying its plumage to brilliant effect for the purpose. The peacock is accorded a special place in almost all mythologies. In some it symbolises beauty, wealth, kingliness and passion; in others, by contrast, immortality, arrogance and vanity. The male in particular is looked upon as being the oldest ornamental bird on account of its striking appearance.

Porcelain painter Michaela Hummitzsch has made use of a special-purpose support here in the cause of naturalistically recreating every single one of the birds' glorious feathers and each of their distinguishing features with the deftest of brushstrokes on a vase standing a proud 2 foot 8 inches tall. The male's elegant neck appears to flow with, and hence underscore, the shape of the vase. The gleaming blueish-green of its plumage recurs on the vase's neck and foot, stylishly enclosed by bands of gilding. What most immediately captivates the eye of the beholder, however, is the delicately gilded feather.

Ornithological art is one of the most successful genres in the entire 300-year-plus history of the porcelain manufactory. Meissen's artists regularly consult its vast archive of graphic sources and, also drawing on their own studies and experiences of Nature, mould what they find into new motifs and interpretations couched in a more modern artistic idiom.