884 - Wien, Kaiserliche Manufaktur unter Matthias Niedermayer

Wien, Kaiserliche Manufaktur unter Matthias Niedermayer Joseph Nigg A Vienna porcelain painting by Joseph Nigg A magnificent, abundant arrangement of garden flowers in a basket on a marble console table, set against a garden backdrop, with an ivy-clad tree trunk on the left. Signed “Jos. Nigg” on the right-hand side of the console. Impressed mark W, date stamp 827. Height 27.8 cm, width 21.8 cm. Gilt softwood frame, height 35.2 cm, width 29.3 cm. Imperial Vienna Porcelain Manufactory, 1827. Joseph Nigg (1782-1863), a native of Vienna, was the most renowned flower painter at the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory under Emperor Francis II. He was engaged by the manufactory in 1800, either during or following his studies at the Academy, and remained there until 1843. From 1816 onwards, he headed the flower-painting department, and as of 1835 he taught the subject of flower painting at the manufactory’s academy. In addition to his own floral compositions, he also produced copies after Jan van Huysum and Rachel Ruysch. Lempertz has previously achieved successful sales of Viennese porcelain painted by Joseph Nigg on several occasions, including a crater vase decorated with fleurs en terrasse (Lempertz Berlin, Auction 1125, 7 November 2018, lot 63) and a tray dated 1816 (Lempertz Berlin, Auction 1128, 6 April 2019, lot 90), both from the Twinight Collection. Provenance Westphalian private collection, acquired from Röbbig, Munich. Literature Published in Röbbig (ed.), Ausgewählte Werke. Frühe deutsche Porzellane, Kunst und Einrichtungen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich, 2011, cat. no. 117. Cf. Frodl/Frodl-Schneemann, Die Blumenmalerei in Wien, Vienna–Cologne–Weimar, 2010, ill. p. 57. Cf. Thun-Hohenstein/Franz (eds), 300 Jahre Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur, Vienna–Stuttgart, 2018, p. 241, the porcelain painting in the MAK Vienna, inv. no. KE 1130. On Nigg, see Mrazek/Neuwirth, Wiener Porzellan 1718–1864, Vienna, 1970, pp. 43–44.