Lot Essay
Schwerin was born in Pomerania in 1684, and entered the Prussian army in the 1720's. Promoted to Feldmarschall in 1740, he was later raised to the rank of Graf. Although his relationship with Frederick the Great was never tranquil, he acted as principal adviser to the King for the duration of the First Silesian War, also playing a significant part in the Second Silesian War and the preparation of the campaign plan for the Seven Years War.
His first wife died in 1754. He remarried almost immediately, his second wife being his mistress, Philippine Louise von Wackenitz, Abbess of Barth; the couple already had a child. He died in battle in 1756.
The design for the plates in this service appears in the published list of 1790 in the Meissen archives as No. 82. Gunter Reinheckel, in his seminal article Plastiche Decorationsformen im Meissner Porzellan des 18.Jahrhunderts, Keramos, 1968, pp. 103 et seq., discusses the precise place of this pattern in the development of Meissen wares. The shape, which is very close to one used at Vincennes by this date, may well have a French origin, and is certainly not directly attributable to any Meissen modeller
His first wife died in 1754. He remarried almost immediately, his second wife being his mistress, Philippine Louise von Wackenitz, Abbess of Barth; the couple already had a child. He died in battle in 1756.
The design for the plates in this service appears in the published list of 1790 in the Meissen archives as No. 82. Gunter Reinheckel, in his seminal article Plastiche Decorationsformen im Meissner Porzellan des 18.Jahrhunderts, Keramos, 1968, pp. 103 et seq., discusses the precise place of this pattern in the development of Meissen wares. The shape, which is very close to one used at Vincennes by this date, may well have a French origin, and is certainly not directly attributable to any Meissen modeller