Monika Piotrowska

Lacquered Berlin vases are a small group made using unique manufacturing technology and technique., consisting of faience vessels of different size and form , white-glazed on the inside and at the bottom, with marks in the form a Chinese coin or artemisia leaf, on the outside adorned using a European lacquer technique. Black-, red- (in the shades ranging from vermilion to claret), navy-blue- and green-ground, as well as red-and-black vases are known. The vases are richly adorned. Basically, they feature two types of decorations: nature scenes and more or less elaborate Chinoiserie landscapes with architecture and human figures. The scenes depicted on the bodies form the main ornamental motifs on the vases. The decoration includes friezes, various ornamental motifs, and sometimes also small scenes featuring nature and landscapes. Decorations are identical only within a given set of vases. It is possible that original Chinese porcelain vases dating from the K’ang-hsi era can also be considered to belong to the group of lacquered Berlin vases, as in Europe they were redecorated using European lacquer similar to the decoration on the Berlin vases.
Lacquered Berlin vases are still poorly discussed. The question of dating of their provenance is still indecisive. On the basis of stylistic analyses their origin was dated to the end of the 18th century (Otto von Falke, Walter Stengel) or to the years 1720-25 (Max Sauerlandt, Konrad Hüseler, Walter Holzhausen) . In 2003, Samuel Wittwer went beyond widely-held opinions, formulating the thesis that lacquered Berlin vases might have been forgery or at least imitations dating from the 2nd quarter of the 19th century,” and that it is possible that “the exclusive circle of buyers was aware of the true provenance of these “Chinese porcelain” objects and purchased them as ‘imitations’ of works which were not available to a wider public.”
Wittwer estimates that around seventy vessels belonging to the group of lacquered Berlin vases are currently known. However, twenty one exhibits from the Polish collections have not been included in this number (Tables 2-9). The Jagiellonian University in Kraków has six green vases adorned with nature scenes (Table 2) – three baluster vases with covers surmounted by knobs in the form of figurines of the sitting Pagoda (Budai, Putai) and three beaker vases, of which one incomplete. In the collection of the Wawel Royal Castle there is a pair of red baluster vases with covers having knobs in the form of very large cockerels. Another pair of vases similar in form and size to those in the Wawel collection may be found in the National Museum in Kielce. The largest collection of lacquered Berlin vases in Poland is kept by the National Museum in Warsaw. The collection consists of a pair of baluster vases with covers surmounted by cockerels (Table 3), a pair of hexagonal vases (Table 5), a pair of four-sided vases (Table 6) and two odd baluster vases without covers (Table 4). The National Museum in Wrocław has a red beaker vase. In addition, a pair of finely adorned navy-blue beaker vases is on loan at the National Museum in Kraków. Most of these vases are not on display and thus are not widely known.
The article discusses historical, formal and stylistic aspects of the group of lacquered Berlin vases, with special stress on artefacts in Polish collections. The discussion of items in foreign collections and the historical analysis are generally based on information contained in Samuel Wittwer’s article Die »Berliner Lackvasen« Eine These. The present article is an introduction to the work presenting the results of a technology study of the group of six lacquered Berlin vases from the collection of the Jagiellonian University Museum in Kraków. the study was started in 2009 under the preparation of the author’s Master’s thesis . Technological studies of the group of lacquered Berlin vases are currently continued and encompass almost all known items from Polish collections .