Peter Anton Seefried
Kaffeegruppe
About the sculpture
This sculptural porcelain group depicts a couple in Turkish dress taking coffee while reclining at the base of a towering pedestal made up of scrolls. The informal and rather risqué pose of the figures captures the lure of the East (or their imagined view of it) for wealthy Europeans in the eighteenth century. The fashion for coffee drinking, which had spread to western Europe from Turkey in the seventeenth century, was in itself, viewed as a fashionable and stylish pastime. Turkish-style fantasies, known by the French term 'turqueries', were popular throughout the eighteenth century, although perhaps are less well-known today than their Chinese counterparts, 'chinoiseries'.
Read on
The modeller, Peter Anton Seefried, assembled this group using models originally created by the sculptor Franz Anton Bustelli, who worked at the Nymphenburg porcelain factory from 1754 until his death in 1763. Bustelli's work included many amorous figures and groups modelled in elaborate poses with fine attention to the details of their dress and gestures, usually set on bases with extravagant scrolled ornament or 'rocaille'. For many, Bustelli's models epitomise the Rococo style in European porcelain figures of the 18th century.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- CIRC.287-1922
