Antique Porcelain & Fine Arts

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Berkoude Scenic Cup & Saucer

This is a cup and saucer made by Ouder Amstel around 1809. It took me quite a while to figure these out but thanks to a Dutch collector I ahve now done so. The litron shaped cup was painted by Nicolaas Wicart Utrecht (1748-1815). There are at least 600 drawings of villages and landscapes of him known. When Reverend de Mol founded (1774) his manuifacture in Loosdrecht, he attracted Wicart as a porcelain painter, where he worked from 1777 to 1784. His drawings or components formed the basis of many variations on the Loosdrecht porcelain. The fame of Loosdrecht was such that when the manufacture was moved to Amsterdam they continued to use it. In the event of breakage or expansion of an existing service Amstel made new  matching examples. For example see a tureen labelled " 't Dorp Benschop". The village Berkoude is now called Berkenwoude. It is a small lovely place recognizable by its church. It's the same church on the cup. The Dutch Reformed Church of Berkenwoude is located on Dorpsstraat. It is a hall church with a west tower. This tower dates from the early 16th century. The church itself was built in 1833 on the spot where a church had already stood in the 14th century, which was also replaced in 1512. Of this church from 1512, only parts of the choir wall remain, which can be found in the consistory. The church is a national monument. Accuracy was not the goal for Wicart, it was about the picture thus he used the existing tower "Ad Vivium" The roof of the church was added. The saucer is hand painted with a nice gold design matching the cup but what makes this set much more interesting than usual is a superb scene handpainted with lots of detail in the front of the cup. The scene is of a small village (well back then at least) called Dorp Berkoude . Both pieces are in good condition with the saucer having a tiny bit of gold wear and the cup has a small not so well restored inside rim chip that doesn't show from the outside. The saucer is unmarked but the cup has something I have not seen on Dutch porcelain - the name of the place underneath in Dutch - het Dorp Berkoude as well as a gold L. A rare piece of Dutch history on porcelain and a superb one at that! The cup is 2.5 inches tall and the same in diameter. The saucer is 1 inch tall and 5 inches in diameter. Please email me for more information or other pictures.

Price is $1249
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