Organization: Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, Vienna
Origin: Austria, Vienna
Date: first quarter of the 19th century
Material: porcelain
Technique: polychrome painting, gilding
Dimensions: height 27.3 cm; diameter 11.9 cm
Current Collection: The State Hermitage Museum
Inventory Number: ZF-17097
Hermitage ID: 352450
Rudanovsky Connection: Entered the Hermitage in 1919 from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky.
A tall Viennese porcelain jug of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, purple and gold, with a painted cartouche.
Jug (ZF-17097). The State Hermitage Museum.
The jug 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 a tall jug — 27.3 centimetres high — with a purple ground, gold ornament and a painted scene in a gold frame.
The Object
The jug has an ovoid body, a narrow neck, a flared lip and a high loop handle.
Its ground is a deep violet-purple, covered with gold ornament: leaves, scrolls and a band of flowers at the neck and the foot. On the front, a gold-framed cartouche contains a painted scene.
The handle is gilded, and the shape of the jug is classical, with a broad body and a slender neck.
The Purple
The purple is the jug’s colour.
It is a deep, slightly blue violet, and it is applied over the glaze, fired and polished. The purple ground is rich and dark, and it makes the gold ornament stand out.
Purple was a fashionable colour in the Empire period, and it was used for vases, jugs and services that were meant to look luxurious.
The Cartouche
The cartouche is the jug’s focus.
It is a gold-framed panel, shaped like a shield or a scroll, and it contains a painted scene. The frame is wide and decorated with a scroll pattern, and it separates the scene from the purple ground.
Cartouches are a common device in Empire porcelain: they frame a picture and turn a vessel into a painting.
The Putto
The scene shows a winged putto.
He kneels on the ground, his hands clasped, and he looks up toward a distant landscape: a hill, a tower, a pale sky. His body is soft and childlike, and his wings are folded.
The putto is a classical figure, and his pose — kneeling, praying or weeping — gives the scene an emotional note.
The Handle
The handle is a high loop.
It rises from the shoulder of the jug and curves down to the body, and it is gilded. Its shape is elegant and functional: it allows the jug to be lifted and poured.
Handles of this kind are a feature of Empire jugs, and they give the object its vertical movement.
The Foot
The jug stands on a moulded foot.
It is gilded, with a band of gold leaves, and it raises the body from the table. The foot gives the jug stability and lift, and it is one of the signs of the object’s quality.
Feet of this kind are common in Viennese porcelain of the period.
Vienna
The jug 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 early nineteenth century, it was known for its rich grounds, its gilding and its painted cartouches.
The jug belongs to that production, and it shows the Viennese taste for colour and ornament.
The Empire
The jug belongs to the Empire style.
The Empire style was the official style of the Napoleonic period, and it was characterised by classical forms, strong colours, gold and military motifs. It was a style of power and display.
The jug is a good example: a classical form, a purple ground, gold ornament and a painted scene.
The Neck
The neck of the jug is slender.
It rises from the shoulder and flares into a wide lip, and it is decorated with a band of gold flowers and leaves. The neck gives the jug its elegance, and it makes the object look taller.
A slender neck is a classical proportion: it balances the broad body and gives the jug its grace.
The Ornament
The ornament is golden.
It covers the purple ground with leaves, scrolls and bands of flowers, and it is painted in gold, fired and burnished. The gold ornament gives the jug its richness and its texture.
Ornament of this kind is a feature of Empire porcelain: dense, symmetrical and rich.
The Landscape
The cartouche contains a landscape.
A hill, a tower and a pale sky are visible behind the putto, and they give the scene depth. The landscape is small and soft, and it is painted in muted colours.
Landscapes in cartouches are a common device in porcelain painting: they provide a setting without distracting from the figure.
The Table
The jug was made for a table.
It stood on a tray or a sideboard, among other pieces of a service, and it was used for water, wine or milk. Its purple and gold would have caught the candlelight.
That table is gone, but the jug still carries its logic: a vessel for pouring, decorated for a grand room.
The Collector
The jug 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 jug is therefore a double document: of Vienna in the early nineteenth century and of a Russian collector’s taste.
The Ground’s Depth
The purple ground is deep.
It is applied in layers, and it has a slight variation in tone, from violet to a darker plum. The depth of the ground makes the gold ornament and the painted cartouche appear to float.
A deep ground is a deliberate choice: it concentrates attention on the decoration, and it gives the jug its richness.
The Gold’s Wear
The gold on the jug is worn in places.
The high points — the handle, the rim, the edges of the ornament — are rubbed, and the purple shows through. The wear is a sign of use and of age.
Gold is the most fragile part of the decoration, and its loss is part of the object’s history.
Provenance
The jug carries the inventory number ZF-17097. 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 jug is preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and is not on permanent display.
It is a fine example of Viennese porcelain, and it preserves a small scene: a purple jug, a gold frame and a winged child, kneeling in a landscape.
It is a vessel for pouring, and it is also a painting: a purple body, a gold frame and a child who kneels in a landscape and does not grow old.
The purple is still purple, and the child is still kneeling, and the gold still catches the light.
It is a jug, and a jug is a promise that something will be poured. And so it is, in its small way, a picture of patience.
