KPM, Madonna del Dito, 19. Jh.

KPM, Madonna del Dito , oval, slightly curved porcelain picture plate by KPM Berlin in fine polychrome onglaze painting, 27 x 22 cm (plate size), 33 x 28.5 cm (frame), unsigned, press mark from 1825, probably last third of the 19th century. Gold moulded wooden frame of the period.

- minimal loss of paint to the margins, period frame somewhat rubbed and with a superficial hairline crack to the front

Exposé as PDF

- Heavenly beauty down to the fingertip -

The type of the Madonna del Dito (Madonna with the Finger) goes back to a painting by Carlo Dolci, now lost. Dolci painted it in the middle of the 17th century on copper, which gives the painting the character of fine enamel. This effect is enhanced by painting on porcelain. As if by soft-focus, Mary's lovely face appears almost transfigured, but at the same time it shows a precision that emphasises the delicacy of her features with sharp contours. Only porcelain painting can achieve the effect of melting softness with such precision, and here it has been achieved to perfection.

In an oval field, Mary appears dressed in a cobalt blue mantle against a dark brown background. The robe forms a kind of niche from which her face shines out. Her eyelids are half closed, suggesting that she is lost in thought. According to Luke, "But Mary kept all these words in her heart, and gave much thought to them" (Lk 2:19), meditating on the divine grace that had been bestowed on her, giving her beauty an unfathomable depth. As the chosen Mother of God, Mary's perfect beauty is at the same time a purity untainted by the Fall. She is the temple of God, which is itself holy, as the delicate halo around her head makes clear. The brown tone of the background, lightened to ochre, is echoed in the brown undergarment, under which Mary's finely drawn golden hair is visible.

The dominant blue, which adds to the depth, is also symbolic: it represents heaven and identifies Mary as the Queen of Heaven, crowned by the aura of a halo.

Her hands, clasped as if in prayer, are wrapped in the celestial robe, only the finger that gives the name to the picture peeps out from under the mantle, giving the Mother of God something human but also something divine, since she touches the celestial blue with her finger and influences it with her touch. An effective power that makes Mary a great intercessor.

Last but not least, the fingertip with the convincingly depicted fingernail is also an expression of the precision of the fine painting before the eye.

While painting on copper plates, which is comparable in its aesthetic effect, was widespread especially in the 17th and early 18th centuries, painting on porcelain had its heyday in the second half of the 19th century and was brought to perfection in the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (KPM).