Pair of Berlin Covered Sorbet Jars or Coolers, Circa 1820
A rare and magnificent pair of Berlin Ice-Pails, Covers and Liners on triangular stands.
Printed iron-red eagle and K.P.M. marks, blue sceptre marks, one ice-pail with pale-brown O and incised triangle, the other ice-pail and the stands with iron-red triangle marks.
The ice-pails composed of four parts – the vessel proper, liner, cover and stand. The cylindrical vessels mounted on three scrolled feet, standing on a triangular, fluted base with truncated angles. The covers curved concavely with gilt foliage on a pink ground, and knobs in the form of pine-cones. The stands, feet and edges of the cylinders are decorated with burnished and matt gilding with key-pattern and classical ornamentation.
The stands also with gilt foliage on a pink ground. The gilt borders to the liners with burnished foliage on a matt ground.
The cylindrical vessels painted with continuous panoramic scenes of numerous figures skating and sledging in river landscapes with windmills, a tavern, horsemen, dogs and trees, between gilt bands engraved with overlapping leaves.
The continuous landscape decoration is of a quality of invention and execution without parallel at the Berlin factory. Snow and skating scenes are extremely rare.