porcelain with polychrome painted decoration and gilt silver mount, the cover and outer sides with polychrome painted architectural ruins and amorous couple, the inside of the cover with mythological depiction, 4 x 8.4 x 6.1 cm, (GO)

The decoration of this tabatière can probably be attributed to Isaak Jacob or Jacques Clauce
(1728 - 1803), one of the best miniature and enamel painters of his time. The quality of the painted décor captivates its viewers through the colourful, contrasting architectural elements and volute curves and a finely painted mythological scene on the inside, probably Susanna and the Elders. Born in Berlin, the son of a goldsmith from Metz, Clauce received his training from 1739 to 1747 in Augsburg under the miniature painter and engraver Gustav Andreas Wolfgang (1692 - 1775). He began working as a painter at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory in 1753. King Frederick II personally lobbied for his final return to Berlin, where in 1756 he first worked for the entrepreneur Wilhelm Caspar Wegely and then for Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, who was delighted to have won "the famous miniature painter, Mr. Clause" for his porcelain manufactory. In 1763, Clauce was recruited by the KPM, holding the position of head of the painting workshop from 1789 onwards.

Provenance:
German Private Collection.

Lit.:
Zu Clauce s. u.a. Baer, Druckgraphische Vorlagen, in: Baer, Ilse/ Baer, Winfried/ Grosskopf-Knaak, Suzanne: Von Gotzkowsky zur KPM. Aus der Frühzeit des friderizianischen Porzellans, Berlin 1986, pp. 272 ff.
Rückert, Rainer: Biographische Daten der Meißener Manufakturisten des
18. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1990, p. 141.