Lemon beaker (plain form)

The beaker features an exhibited chamfered foot ring, adorned with a gold band, and a smooth, flaring shape. The polychrome chinoiserie scenes are set within large gold and luster cartouches, while the intervening spaces are entirely covered in golden ornaments and decorative elements, enriched with iron-red and purple detailing. The lip rim is decorated with a hanging gold-pointed border.

The cartouches contain a chinoiserie décor, including:

• A two-story pavilion, where Chinese figures above greet an approaching group of visitors.
• A Chinese figure on a black horse.
• A scene of an interior richly draped with textiles, where a Chinese figure is attended by his servants.
• The background features exquisite landscape painting, with sailing ships and architectural elements under a heavily clouded sky.

Lemonade beakers were among the early commercial successes of the Meissen manufactory. They were produced in Böttger stoneware as well as (like this example) Böttger porcelain, and in various forms:

• Plain or decorated, in the early period often with "Kraußlaub" (scrolling foliage), acanthus motifs, or hanging "French flowers" (Boltz in Keramos 167/168, 2000, p. 34, fig. 31).
• With two crowned female mascarons.
• With or without a lid, with the lidless beakers (such as this one) featuring a smooth inner rim rather than a biscuit-finished one.

At the beginning of the Höroldt period, production shifted toward smooth beakers, as they offered an ideal painting surface for Höroldt’s detailed chinoiserie scenes.

The term “Lemonade Beaker” (or “Lemon Beaker”) is historically accurate, as documented in the earliest inventories and price lists (Boltz, ibid., p. 40 f., section 3.4). However, it has since been largely forgotten in modern porcelain literature.

Comparable Pieces

• The famous wedding beaker, without a lid or applied decoration, painted by Höroldt himself for his wife. It is inscribed “Rahel Eleonor Höroldt / d. 26 Nov. 1725” within a wedding crest (Pietsch, Exhibition Catalog, 1996, No. 117). A related beaker, painted by Höroldt for his mother-in-law, is inscribed “Beate Christina Keilen den 16. SEP 1726” in gold, a color that Höroldt had just learned to use as a painting pigment. This transition marked the end of the Funcke era (Slg. Franz und Margarete Oppenheimer, Sothebys New York, 14.09.2021 Nr. 58; Den Blaauwen, Rijksmuseum Catalog, No. 41; Pietsch, ibid., No. 140).
• Ringier Collection (Christie’s, 11.12.2007, p. 31), featuring a similar curtain-drapery motif as seen on this beaker. This collection also included another lemonade beaker from circa 1725–1728, decorated with merchant shipping scenes and covered with "Kraußlaub". It had a lid and belonged to the Queen of Greece.
• Pauls Collection (UK Catalog, p. 432; German edition, p. 206, with an incorrect lid).