Limited Edition Wall Picture Scenes from Arabian Nights

Heinz Werner (1928-2019) authored countless pictures and over a hundred decorative schemes in a wide-ranging career spanning more than half a century at the Meissen manufactory. Little could the artist have suspected when the first ideas for "Arabian Nights" came to him in 1966 that this was to become one of his most successful patterns ever.

Werner's oriental fairy-tale world is notable for its subtle jocularity and airy abandon. And, as with every great range of patterns designed for Meissen, it is constantly evolving, changing, and shining forth in new colours and constellations. As in the case of this palace scene by porcelain painter Annemarie Krüger.

A wall plate fashioned to evoke a palace window affords us a secret glimpse of the goings-on inside: we observe a sheikh puffing away at his hubble-bubble, a young lady on a magic carpet, we see a tiny kitten looking mischievously about and a little monkey nimbly clambering up a lavishly designed curtain. In short, we are party to a colourful scene full of imaginative verve and a love of life, executed with the deftest of brushwork and inspired by the exotic make-believe world of the Arabian Nights.