Plate

Art Historical Context

This elegant hard-paste porcelain plate was produced around 1765 by the Zurich Pottery and Porcelain Factory, with designs attributed to Swiss artist and poet Salomon Gessner. Created during a period when European manufactories were mastering the challenging technique of true porcelain—previously dominated by Chinese and Meissen makers—the piece reflects Switzerland’s brief but ambitious entry into this luxury trade. Its modest scale and refined surface highlight the factory’s focus on intimate, high-quality tablewares for an emerging middle-class and aristocratic market. The plate’s central decoration features a delicately painted scene of classical ruins nestled among trees, evoking the 18th-century fascination with antiquity and the picturesque. Gessner, known for his pastoral landscapes and literary works celebrating nature, brought a poetic sensibility to porcelain decoration. Such motifs blended Rococo lightness with early Neoclassical interest in ancient remains, transforming a functional object into a small window onto romanticized history. Today in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection as part of the Hans Syz gift, this Zurich plate offers visitors a glimpse into the cultural aspirations of Enlightenment-era Europe, where art, literature, and fine craftsmanship converged on everyday luxury items.