Getty Museum

Table Bell

Date

about 1725–1730

Medium

Hard-paste porcelain, mauve and pale green ground colors, polychrome enamel decoration, and gilding

Culture

German

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

Hand bells used for calling servants were traditionally made of silver or other metals in the 1700s. With the discovery of the recipe for porcelain, the Meissen porcelain manufactory became the first place in Europe to offer such objects to the consumer in porcelain. Decoration of early European porcelain often alluded to porcelain's Oriental origins. Two scenes of Chinese figures in imaginary settings decorate this bell. Scholars believe that these images are similar to the distinctive chinoiserie images designed by Johann Gregorius Höroldt, the chief decorator at the Meissen porcelain manufactory in the 1720s. He signed few pieces, but scholars have attributed many works to him based on his signed album of drawings, which still survives in Germany.

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