Lot Essay
The engravings by Melchior Küsel for Verschiedene ansichte in Italien, Cärnthen und Friul published by J.W. Baur in Augsburg in 1679 and two further Augsburg publications of 1681 and 1682 were used as the principal graphic sources for this service. Samuel Christie-Miller reputedly bought the service in Paris from a member of the House of Orléans in about 1840, but the early provenance of this service still remains obscure, and it is not known for whom the service was originally made. Ulrich Pietsch suggests that the sheer quality of the decoration, executed by the leading artists at Meissen, Christian Friedrich Herold, Georg Heintze and Bonaventura Gottlieb Häuer, indicates that it may have been a gift from Augustus III to the French Court. This is extremely probable, given that his daughter Josepha married the Dauphin in 1747.
Until the appearance of 72 pieces from the Estate of the late S.R. Christie-Miller at Sotheby's London in 1970, only one piece of the service, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, had been known and published. The most recent pieces to appear on the market are the plate sold in these Rooms on 11th December 2007, lot 111, and the two Hoffmeister Collection plates offered by Bonhams on 25th November 2005, lots 63 and 64.
For the example in the Carabelli Collection, Switzerland, see U. Pietsch, Frühes Meissner Porzellan, Sammlung Carabelli Catalogue (Munich, 2000), pp. 242-243, no. 118, and p. 244, where he mentions an example in the Pauls Collection, Switzerland which has a G.H. monogram on the saddlebag of a horse, which he attributes to Georg Heintze. For the examples in the Hoffmeister Collection, see D. Hoffmeister, Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister (Hamburg, 1999), Vol. I, nos. 96-101. Three dishes from the service, sold by Sotheby's on 7th July 1970, lots 1, 20 and 43, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, are illustrated by Hugo Morley-Fletcher, Early European Porcelain & Faience as collected by Kiyi and Edward Pflueger Catalogue (London, 1993), pp. 42-45.
Until the appearance of 72 pieces from the Estate of the late S.R. Christie-Miller at Sotheby's London in 1970, only one piece of the service, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, had been known and published. The most recent pieces to appear on the market are the plate sold in these Rooms on 11th December 2007, lot 111, and the two Hoffmeister Collection plates offered by Bonhams on 25th November 2005, lots 63 and 64.
For the example in the Carabelli Collection, Switzerland, see U. Pietsch, Frühes Meissner Porzellan, Sammlung Carabelli Catalogue (Munich, 2000), pp. 242-243, no. 118, and p. 244, where he mentions an example in the Pauls Collection, Switzerland which has a G.H. monogram on the saddlebag of a horse, which he attributes to Georg Heintze. For the examples in the Hoffmeister Collection, see D. Hoffmeister, Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister (Hamburg, 1999), Vol. I, nos. 96-101. Three dishes from the service, sold by Sotheby's on 7th July 1970, lots 1, 20 and 43, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, are illustrated by Hugo Morley-Fletcher, Early European Porcelain & Faience as collected by Kiyi and Edward Pflueger Catalogue (London, 1993), pp. 42-45.