Berlin centrepiece “Amor und Psyche”

• model by Johann Carl Friedrich Riese (1759-1834), based on drafts by Hans Christian Genelli (1763-1823), KPM Berlin, 1793-1798, biscuit porcelain, wood, mirror glass, gilded bronze, ornamental painting length: 176 cm

This magnificent work dates back to 1793 when the Prussian heir to the throne, Frederick William (III.), married the Strelitz Princess Luise. It contains a centrepiece from the royal porcelain manufacturer that forms one of the lateral plates in the current work of art. The model for this was probably created by Johann Carl Friedrich Riese on the basis of drafts from the architect Hans Christian Genelli.

Five years later Riese expanded the centrepiece to its current large form by doubling the original individual plate, using it as a side group and adding a completely new middle group.

This ensemble was sent to Mecklenburg as a royal wedding present when the heir to the throne, Frederick Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, married the Russian Tsar’s daughter Helene Paulowna in 1799.

The Schwerin specimen is one of the loveliest and most complete examples from the Berlin porcelain manufacturer. In terms of both form and content it reflected the new concept, oriented around antiquity, which started to prevail at KPM. The biscuit porcelain figures are reminiscent of ancient marble sculptures and correspond to the ideal of the now wholly developed classicism.