Egyptian Revival porcelain Tête-à-tête Austria, Vienna, 1794-1809
Egyptian Revival porcelain Tête-à-tête Austria, Vienna, 1794-1809 made by the Imperial Manufactory. This beautiful set of porcelain is on display in the Boston Museum of Art. Widespread fascination with Egypt inspired European ceramic factories to produce Egyptian-style wares during the late eighteenth century. For this coffee service. The Vienna factory freely mixed ancient Egyptian motifs such as sphinxes, crocodiles, and hieroglyphs and even based the coffeepot's shape on an ancient canopic jar, or funerary vessel. All theses fanciful models fell into favor after Napoleon Bonaparte's military expedition to Egypt in 1798 resulted in an explosion of information on the country and prompted more strictly archaeological interpretations of the Egyptian Revival style in the Arts.
Canopic jar, or funerary vessel shape coffee pot
Note gold gilt crocodile handle of sugar bowl
Etched hieroglyphs into the gold gilt of the cup
Egyptian Revival porcelain Tête-à-tête Austria, Vienna, 1794-1809 made by the Imperial Manufactory
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