CIRCA 1770, BLUE SCEPTRE MARK, INCISED C.M.

There are three lemon-baskets of this type known. A Zitronenkorb was originally designed for the Japanisches Tafelservice, ordered by Frederick The Great for use in the Chinese Pavilion at Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam, and executed between 1769 and 1770. Lenz published a Zitronenkorb in 1913 which at the time was still in the possession of the Royal Hohenzollern family, and this was subsequently published by Erich Köllmann and Margarete Jarchow, Berliner Porzellan, Munich, 1987, Vol. II, p. 441, nos. 271a-c, where it was described as being in the Kunstgewerbemuseum Schloß Köpenick, Berlin. It is thought that this is most probably the one which was once part of the Japanisches Service, but this is not absolutely certain, and the whereabouts of this example is currently unknown. The other known example, from a private collection, is currently on loan to the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg.