Stock No: 16837

A pair of large biscuit porcelain plaques after Thorvaldsen's iconic 'Night and Day' reliefs. Thorvaldsen was Denmark's greatest cultural export during the 18th and 19th centuries, despite spending most of his career in Italy. His 'Night and Day' reliefs were first modelled in Rome in 1815 in marble and were very well-received, and high quality copies in porcelain were hugely sought after.
‘Night’ is represented by a winged female, crowned with poppy seed heads and bearing in her arms two children who symbolise Sleep and Death. An owl flies beside them. ‘Day’ is shown scattering flowers and carrying a winged boy with a flaming torch to represent the sun.

These particular copies were made in the 19th century by the Royal Copenhagen factory. The factory was founded in 1775 and produced copies of well regarded sculptures in twice-fired biscuit porcelain.

Danish. c.1885.

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