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Lot Essay
This teacaddy and cover comes from a service which first appeared in these Rooms on 24th March 1969, lots 9-12, 'The Property of Mrs. G. M. Boyd to whom it has descended from Peter Murdoch of Parkhouse'. It comprised an oviform octagonal teapot and cover, a rectangular teacaddy and cover and two pairs of octagonal two-handled cups and saucers. According to the catalogue, a letter of Murdoch's dated July 22nd 1815 traced the earlier provenance of the service to a gift from the Queen of Prussia to Caroline, wife of George II who in turn gave it to the Countess Cathcart. She gave it to Mrs. Cochrane (née Murdoch) who bequeathed it to her nephew, the writer of the letter.
This slighlty enigmatic note refers either to Princess Sophia Dorothea, daughter of George I and wife of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia who married in 1706 or to Elizabeth, daughter of Albrecht II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and wife of Frederick II 'The Great' who married in 1733. The former would seem the more convincing with the service being given as a gift between Royal sisters-in-law.
Two-handled cups and saucers from this service, or a closely related service appear in the literature, see R. Seyffarth's paper 'Marken der "Königlichen-Porcelain-Manufactur" zu Meissen von 1721-1750, featured in '250 Jahre Meissner Porzellan', Keramikfreunde der Schweiz, (1960) pl. M8 for an example from the Royal Saxon Collection with Japanese Palace inventory number N=W/343. See also the example in the Hans Syz Collection, Hans Syz et. al, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection, Smithsonian Institute Catalogue, (Washington, D.C. 1979), pp. 200-1, no. 121. For an octagonal bowl with a similar pattern, see Erik Lassen, 'Davids Samling Meissen Porcelæn', Catalogue (Copenhagen, 1985), pp. 172-173, no. 70.
This slighlty enigmatic note refers either to Princess Sophia Dorothea, daughter of George I and wife of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia who married in 1706 or to Elizabeth, daughter of Albrecht II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and wife of Frederick II 'The Great' who married in 1733. The former would seem the more convincing with the service being given as a gift between Royal sisters-in-law.
Two-handled cups and saucers from this service, or a closely related service appear in the literature, see R. Seyffarth's paper 'Marken der "Königlichen-Porcelain-Manufactur" zu Meissen von 1721-1750, featured in '250 Jahre Meissner Porzellan', Keramikfreunde der Schweiz, (1960) pl. M8 for an example from the Royal Saxon Collection with Japanese Palace inventory number N=W/343. See also the example in the Hans Syz Collection, Hans Syz et. al, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection, Smithsonian Institute Catalogue, (Washington, D.C. 1979), pp. 200-1, no. 121. For an octagonal bowl with a similar pattern, see Erik Lassen, 'Davids Samling Meissen Porcelæn', Catalogue (Copenhagen, 1985), pp. 172-173, no. 70.