Dish with a bouquet and flower sprays c. 1800 - 1849

This porcelain dish, decorated by the Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur, features delicate bouquets and flower sprays. These motifs, far from mere decoration, echo a profound, cross-cultural language. Flowers have long served as symbols, bearing meanings from love and beauty to mourning and remembrance. Consider the central rose, a recurring emblem of love and secrecy dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, where it was associated with Aphrodite and Venus. The rose’s symbolism continues through the ages, gracing medieval tapestries and Renaissance paintings, each time reborn with nuanced significance. The visual arrangement of the bouquet touches on the interplay between nature and artifice, a tension that resonates within us. This tension speaks to our collective memory, a shared understanding passed down through generations, influencing how we perceive and emotionally respond to the image, connecting us to profound human experiences. The flowers on this dish remind us that symbols are never static; they are continuously reinterpreted, weaving a complex tapestry of meaning across time.