Kop, beschilderd met een landschap met vee c. 1809 - 1814

This cup, painted with a landscape and cattle, was made by the Koninklijke Porseleinfabriek Dommer & Co. Observe how the pastoral scene, with its meticulously rendered cows and verdant foliage, is bounded by the hard geometry of the cup's cylindrical form. The artist uses a traditional landscape format and then subverts it by applying it to the porcelain, transforming it into an intimate, portable tableau. Note the tension between the cup’s functional design and the decorative landscape. This interplay destabilizes the conventional hierarchy of art and craft. The landscape isn’t merely decorative; it invites us to reflect on how art objects mediate our relationship with nature. The delicate brushstrokes and idyllic imagery, juxtaposed with the cup’s utilitarian purpose, challenge our fixed notions of value and representation. Consider the painting as not simply aesthetic but as a discourse on how the art object can blur the boundaries between the practical and the poetic.