Courtly Pleasures

Table Decorations as a Reflection of Baroque Society

Gun-Dagmar Helke, Hela Schandelmaier

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Hardback

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Arnoldsche
03 November 2025

Art & design styles: Baroque; Ceramic arts, pottery, glass

Series: Courtly Collection

The publication Courtly Pleasures explores how porcelain figurines and miniature landscapes served as table decorations from the Baroque to early 19th century.

Scenes of gardens and of love, idyllic hunting parties, picturesque farms, and lifelike animal figurines in porcelain were popular motifs in table decoration from the Baroque to the beginning of the 19th century. These 'worlds in miniature' were intended to initiate conversation among the table guests

and of course attest to the discerning taste of the hosts. The decorative pieces were, for all intents and purposes, part of the furnishing scheme and finished off the room's interior as a total work of art down to the last detail. Central to this was the artisanal sophistication and the perfect mastery of the latest techniques, which breathed new life into the miniatures.

Following on from Courtly Companions: Pugs and Other Dogs in Porcelain and Faience, now Courtly Pleasures presents the most beautiful table decorations produced by a variety of manufactories

including Meissen, Frstenberg, Delft or Vienna

all from the abundant treasures of a southwest German private collection. In addition, the authors place the pieces in their historical context by taking a look at Baroque table culture or exoticised depictions of foreign countries.

Text in English and German.

By: Gun-Dagmar Helke, Hela Schandelmaier
Imprint: Arnoldsche
Country of Publication: Germany
Dimensions: Height: 280mm, Width: 220mm,
Weight: 1.440kg
ISBN: 9783897907348
ISBN 10: 3897907348
Series: Courtly Collection
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 03 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dr. Gun-Dagmar Helke Studied art history, classical archaeology and Byzantine art history followed by her doctorate with dissertation on the Augsburg etcher Johann Esaias Nilson. Intern and assistant curator at the Museum fr Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. From 2006 conservator of the Collection at Gut Hohen Luckow; since 2012 art historian and manager of the Familienstiftung Ruth Merckle. Research focus on ceramics, antique carpets and prints from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Hela Schandelmaier, MA Studied art history, German language and literature, and Italian literature. Assistant curator at the Museum August Kestner in Hanover, where she inventoried and restructured the Ceramics Department. Expert appraiser in ceramics from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Worked twenty-five years on the board of directors at the Gesellschaft der Keramikfreunde e. V. and on freelance exhibition and publication projects.