Organization: Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, Vienna
Origin: Austria, Vienna
Date: late 18th – early 19th century
Complex: Breakfast Service (Déjeuner)
Material: porcelain
Technique: gilding, polychrome painting
Dimensions: height with lid 13.6 cm; pot 12 cm with handle; body diameter 8 cm
Current Collection: The State Hermitage Museum
Inventory Number: ZF-17058
Hermitage ID: 352441
Rudanovsky Connection: Entered the Hermitage in 1919 from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky.
A gold-ground Viennese porcelain coffee pot of the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, from a breakfast service.
Coffee Pot with a Lid. The State Hermitage Museum.
The pot entered the Hermitage in 1919, transferred through the Branch for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky. It is not currently on permanent display.
It is the tallest piece of the service — 13.6 centimetres with its lid — completely gilded, with a bouquet of flowers on the body.
The Object
The pot is cylindrical, with a slightly recessed neck and a short spout.
It has a large loop handle, a domed lid with a pointed knop, and four small feet. The body is gold, with a painted bouquet: a rose, a red flower, a white flower, blue and purple blossoms.
The gold covers the whole surface, and the flowers are painted directly on the gold.
Coffee
The pot is a coffee pot.
Coffee was a fashionable drink in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and it was served from porcelain pots. The pot held the coffee, kept it hot and poured it into the cups.
Coffee pots were the centrepiece of the coffee table, and they were decorated to match the rest of the service.
The Body
The body is cylindrical and tall.
It holds enough coffee for several cups, and its height gives it a commanding presence on the tray. The body is gilded, with a painted bouquet on the front.
The cylinder is a modern shape, and it belongs to the neoclassical taste of the period.
The Spout
The spout is short and flared.
It is set opposite the handle, and it allows the coffee to be poured in a controlled stream. The spout is gilded, like the rest of the pot.
A pot without a spout would be a jar; with it, it becomes a vessel for pouring.
The Handle
The handle is a large loop.
It is gilded, with a curved profile, and it is attached to the body with a small scroll. The handle is practical — it allows the pot to be lifted and poured — and decorative.
Its size contrasts with the body, and it gives the pot its character.
The Lid
The lid is domed, with a pointed knop.
It keeps the coffee hot and closes the pot. The lid is gilded and stamped with a pattern of leaves and dots, and it matches the bowl’s decoration.
The knop is a small sculpture: a pointed finial, easy to grasp and pleasant to look at.
The Feet
The pot stands on four small feet.
They are gilded, and they raise the body from the table. The feet give the pot stability and lift, and they are one of the signs of the service’s quality.
Feet of this kind are a feature of Viennese porcelain of the period, and they appear on the jug and the sugar bowl too.
The Gold
The gold is the set’s colour.
It covers the pot, the lid, the handle and the feet, and it gives the object a rich, warm surface. The gold was applied over the glaze, fired and burnished, and it is the most expensive part of the decoration.
A fully gilded service was a display of wealth.
The Bouquet
The bouquet is the pot’s ornament.
It is painted on the body, in soft colours, and it includes a rose, a red flower, a white flower and blue blossoms. The flowers stand out against the gold.
The painting is delicate, and it turns a gold surface into a garden.
Vienna
The pot was made in Vienna.
The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory of Vienna was one of the earliest in Europe, and it produced services, figures and decorative objects. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it was known for its rich grounds, its flower painting and its gilding.
The pot belongs to that production.
The Déjeuner
The pot is part of a breakfast service.
The service included a tray, a cream jug, a sugar bowl and cups and saucers, all decorated with the same gold ground and flower bouquets. The coffee pot is its largest piece.
A déjeuner was a private service, used for a small meal in a private room.
The Pattern
The pattern is stamped, not painted.
It consists of bands of leaves, dots and arches, pressed into the porcelain with a tool while it was still soft. The pattern runs around the neck, the lid and the feet.
Stamped ornament is a technique of the potter: it is quicker than painting, and it gives a crisp, regular decoration.
The Painting
The painting is the pot’s ornament.
The bouquet is painted on the body, in soft colours, and it includes a rose, a red flower, a white flower and blue blossoms. The flowers stand out against the gold.
The painting is the work of a specialist, and it is the pot’s chief ornament.
The Collector
The pot came to the Hermitage with the Rudanovsky collection.
Rudanovsky collected European porcelain alongside paintings, drawings, glass and miniatures, and his collection included Viennese services and decorative objects.
The pot is therefore a double document: of Vienna in the late eighteenth century and of a Russian collector’s taste.
The Balance
The pot is a study in balance.
Its tall body is offset by the large handle and the short spout, and its feet give it a stable base. When it is full, it must not tip; when it is poured, it must not drip.
A coffee pot is a machine for pouring, and its beauty is the beauty of a well-made tool.
The Breakfast
The pot belongs to a breakfast.
A déjeuner was served in the morning, in a private room, and it was a small, intimate meal: coffee, cream, sugar, bread and fruit. The coffee pot was the centre of the ritual.
The object is therefore not only a vessel but a piece of a morning: a small ceremony, repeated every day.
The Knop
The knop is the lid’s handle.
It is a small, pointed cone, gilded like the rest, and it is the point where the lid is lifted. Its shape is simple and elegant, and it gives the lid its finish.
Knops of this kind were modelled separately and applied before firing.
Provenance
The pot carries the inventory number ZF-17058. It entered the Hermitage in 1919, transferred through the Branch for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky.
In the Hermitage
The pot is preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and is not on permanent display.
It is a small, rich object, and it preserves a moment of the Viennese table: a gold pot, a bouquet of flowers and a morning cup of coffee.
It is a pot, and it has kept its gold.
