Rosenthal 1915 Red Cross Charity Plate Zumbusch Putto German Austrian Arms WWI

Original World War I-period Rosenthal porcelain commemorative plate, a Red Cross benefit issue of 1915 designed by Professor Ludwig von Zumbusch, depicting a standing child who holds the shields of Germany and Austria-Hungary beneath the flag of the Red Cross. The plate measures approximately 9 inches (about 21.5 cm) in diameter and is a fully marked, artist-signed example of the finest class of German wartime charity porcelain.

The central field carries a monochrome sepia photogravure-style transfer of a nude Putto (child genius) striding forward, a Red Cross flag furled on a staff over his right shoulder. To either side he steadies a heraldic shield: at left the double-headed eagle, at right its companion, representing the arms of the allied Central Powers of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary joined in common cause. The composition is signed in the image at lower right with the artist's initials L. v. Z. The plain white rim frames the scene, and the reverse bears an extensive printed inscription in black with the green Rosenthal crown-and-crossed-lines mark of the Kunst-Abteilung (Art Department) at Selb in Bavaria.

The reverse identifies every particular of the plate. Across the top runs a two-line verse by the poet Ludwig Fulda: "Ein Segenspfand, gewidmet jenen Händen, die herbem Kriegsleid sanfte Lindrung spenden" ("A pledge of blessing, dedicated to those hands that bring gentle relief to bitter war-suffering"), a dedication to the nurses and carers whose work the sale of the plate supported. Below, flanking the Rosenthal mark, are the names of the two sponsoring charitable bodies: the Preussischer Landesverein vom Roten Kreuz (Prussian Provincial Association of the Red Cross) at left and the Vaterländischer Frauenverein (Patriotic Women's Association) at right. Beneath is the title Zur Erinnerung an große Zeit 1915 ("In remembrance of a great time, 1915"), and at the foot the attribution Zeichnung von Prof. L. v. Zumbusch ("drawing by Prof. L. von Zumbusch"). Two pierced lugs are molded into the reverse rim for wall suspension.

The plate is a document of the German home front and of the vast charitable apparatus mobilized behind the war. From 1914 onward the Rote Kreuz associations and the Vaterländischer Frauenverein, the latter a Prussian women's organization founded in 1866 to support wartime medical and welfare work, raised funds for field hospitals, nursing, and the care of the wounded through the sale of patriotic goods. Rosenthal, one of the foremost Bavarian porcelain houses, lent its Art Department and leading designers to the effort, producing benefit plates of a quality far above the ordinary commemorative ware of the period. The pairing of the German and Austrian arms under the neutral banner of the Red Cross expresses both the military alliance of the Central Powers and the humanitarian ideal invoked to justify and soften the war, while Fulda's couplet directs the sentiment specifically toward the caregivers rather than the combatants, an unusually tender note within the martial output of 1915.

The design is the work of Ludwig von Zumbusch (1861–1927), a painter and illustrator of the Munich school and son of the sculptor Kaspar von Zumbusch. He was a prominent figure of the Jugendstil, a regular contributor to the celebrated Munich satirical and artistic weekly Jugend, from which the movement took its name, and was widely known for his tender, luminous depictions of children and mothers. His graceful, classicizing treatment of the child figure here is entirely characteristic of his hand, and his participation, like Rosenthal's, reflects the mobilization of Germany's leading artists in the patriotic cause. The verse is by Ludwig Fulda (1862–1939), a successful dramatist, poet, and translator of the same generation, celebrated for his German renderings of Molière and Rostand, whose facility with the epigrammatic couplet is well shown in the two lines chosen for the plate.

Condition is very good and consistent with a wall-displayed charity plate of its age. The plate is structurally sound with no chips or cracks. The sepia image is clear and complete with fine tonal gradation; there is light surface scratching visible across the darker ground under raking light, and minor wear consistent with handling. The reverse inscriptions and both maker's marks are crisp and fully legible, and the suspension lugs are intact. The glaze retains good gloss overall.

For the collector, the plate unites several desirable threads: it is a marked Rosenthal Art Department piece, a signed design by a named Jugendstil artist of standing, a First World War Red Cross and Vaterländischer Frauenverein charity issue with full documentary inscription, and a graphically striking image joining the German and Austrian arms under the Red Cross. Wartime Rosenthal charity plates of this Zumbusch design are encountered from time to time and are valued both within Imperial German home-front collecting and among collectors of Red Cross and medical-service history and of Jugendstil porcelain.