525 - Meissen Three Small Vases with Bunte Blume 2 and Gold Rim, First Choice, Crossed Swords Mark

Meissen Three Small Vases with Bunte Blume 2 and Gold Rim, First Choice, Crossed Swords Mark Porcelain, polychrome painted, gilt, glazed. Three small vases by the Meissen State Porcelain Manufactory in graduated sizes, the two smaller ones with a bulbous body and short trumpet neck, the largest slender and cylindrical with a stepped foot. To the front of each a floral bouquet with a different principal flower: a pink carnation with forget-me-nots, an orange-red ranunculus with purple blossoms, and a yellow and violet iris with small orange blossoms; the reverses with single scattered flowers. The rims and foot rings with gold lines. The undersides with the underglaze blue crossed swords mark without pommel, together with the model number and the red painter's number. Good condition. H. 6.5 to 14 cm Small vases of this kind were made at Meissen throughout the 20th century and were intended as an affordable gift from the manufactory: they hold hardly more than a single blossom and stood on the desk, the bedside table or the sideboard. Because the surface is small, the decoration is concentrated on a single, carefully executed group of flowers; the painting is therefore more demanding than on large vessels, where mistakes disappear into the overall image. The iris is one of the most botanically accurate motifs in the Meissen flower repertoire.