Friedrich Elias Meyer the Elder

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Friedrich Elias Meyer , called the Elder (* around 1723 in Erfurt ; † October 2, 1785 in Berlin ), was a German sculptor and porcelain modeler in the Rococo period . He created numerous models for the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory , but made a name for himself primarily as a master model in the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin .

Live and act

“Merkur und Amor”, around 1770. Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts
Portrait bust of Friedrich II., 1778. State museums in Berlin , sculpture collection

Friedrich Elias Meyer was the son of the sculptor Matthias Meyer, who worked in Erfurt, and the older brother of the later director of the " Royal Prussian Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences " Wilhelm Christian Meyer (1726–1786). Due to the early death of his father, Friedrich Elias was trained from 1737 by the court sculptor Michael Grünbeck († 1742), who worked in Gotha. After completing his apprenticeship, the 18-year-old entered the service of Heinrich I von Schwarzburg-Sondershausen in 1741 , who appointed him court sculptor. After a brief activity in Sondershausen , he was appointed to the Wettiner Hof in Weimar. Ernst August I planned the construction of the palace in Eisenach in 1742 and financed two study trips for further education, which took him to Berlin in 1743 and to Dresden in 1745. With the knowledge he acquired, he participated in the design of the new baroque palace in 1746/47.

After the Duke's death in 1748, Meyer went to the “ Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Porcelain Manufactory ” in Meissen . There, the position of the ill modeller Johann Friedrich Eberlein , who had worked closely with the modeller Johann Joachim Kändler , was vacant . After a short trial period, Meyer took over the design and model development and “initially earned 38 thalers a month as a piece worker.” His models, which he placed on a Rocaille base, included the exotic-looking porcelain figures of the Malabaren group, designed around 1750, and the singers and musicians of the "Galanten Kapelle".

The Prussian occupation of the Electorate of Saxony at the beginning of the Seven Years' War in 1756 had far-reaching consequences for the Meissen manufactory in both the economic and artistic fields. Although the manufactory confiscated by Frederick II was successfully continued despite the war, wages had to be cut by a third. Because of the poor wages and increasing differences with Kellers, through whom he saw himself "inhibited in his work", Meyer was enticed to Prussia in 1761 with the prospect of a better paid position. Other employees had already accepted this offer.

In Berlin, the entrepreneur Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky had taken over a porcelain factory founded by Wilhelm Kaspar Wegely at the beginning of 1761 and was looking for skilled personnel for his "Fabrique de Porcelaine de Berlin" in Leipziger Strasse . The company purchase and speculative business soon brought Gotzkowsky into financial difficulties, so that in 1763 the manufacture passed to Frederick II for 225,000 thalers and from 1763 operated under the name "Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur", or "KPM" for short. Friedrich Elias Meyer, who now received a salary of 1,500 thalers as a model master, worked closely with his brother Wilhelm Christian, who also moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1761 and worked for KPM from 1766.

In addition to the production for the free market, the manufactory made numerous porcelain works for the royal palace and garden buildings. As in Meißen, Friedrich II also influenced the form and decor of the services in Berlin. The first table service produced by KPM was created in 1765/66 for the Potsdam guest palace Neues Palais . The so-called “1. Potsdamsche ”, designed Meyer in the form of“ relief decoration ”with a decoration of flowers and rich, golden rocaille ornamentation, for which the service“ Etched design ”from his time with Gotzkowsky served as a model. One of the most artistically significant creation from the manufactory's first blooming period, however, is the dessert service for 120 people with a multi-part centerpiece that was created between 1770 and 1772 according to the king’s specifications , which Frederick II gave to the Russian Tsarina Catherine II and is now in the St. Petersburg Hermitage is kept. What part Friedrich Elias Meyer, whose hand is unmistakable in many pieces, has in the models for this essay cannot be determined in detail . On the basis of calculations, some groups of figures could only be assigned to brother Wilhelm Christian, who probably also created the greater part of the models. Friedrich II had twenty-one table and dessert services made at KPM, for which Friedrich Elias Meyer designed the "Reliefzierat", "Neuzierat", "Antikzierat" (since 1857 "Rocaille") and "Neuosier", which are still exemplary today. In recognition of his achievement, Meyer was appointed professor at the “Royal Prussian Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences” in March 1782.

family

Friedrich Elias Meyer married Johanna Friederica in 1776, the daughter of the Meißen deacon Johann Georg Martins († before 1776). The marriage resulted in three sons and a daughter. It cannot be ruled out that he had a son of the same name from a previous marriage. Friedrich Elias Meyer († 1790), with the addition of "the younger" to distinguish him, was a sculptor in Berlin and participated in the academy exhibitions from 1786 to 1788 with clay and plaster figures. After his death in 1791 the figures “Faun” and “ Endymion ” intended for Monbijou Castle were exhibited.

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Elias Meyer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Nina Simone Schep Frankowski: Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. Art agent and painting collector in the Frederician Berlin. Berlin 2009, p. 277.
  2. ↑ Pauline Countess von Spee: The classical porcelain sculpture of the Meissen manufactory from 1764 to 1814. Dissertation of the Philosophical Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn, Bonn 2004, p. 27.
  3. ↑ a b Meyer, Friedrich Elias . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 24 : Mandere – Möhl . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1930, p. 473 .
  4. ^ Bublitz: The Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin 1763–1913. P. 2.
  5. ↑ Moritzburg Foundation - Art Museum of the State of Saxony-Anhalt , accessed on January 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ Johanna Lessmann, Michaela Bräsel, Catherine Dück: Berlin porcelain of the 18th century from its own holdings. Museum for Arts and Crafts, Hamburg 1993, p. 131.
  7. ^ Bublitz: The Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin 1763–1913. P. 4.
  8. ↑ a b Bublitz: The Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin 1763–1913. P. 7.
  9. ↑ Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin: Friedrich Elias Meyer (1723–1785)
  10. ^ Ponert: Meyer, Friedrich Elias the Elder. In: New German Biography. Volume 17, p. 338.
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Friedrich Elias the Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyer, Friedrich Elias; Meyer, Friedrich Elias I
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor and porcelain modeler
DATE OF BIRTH around 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1785
Place of death Berlin