CIRCA 1737-1741, FAINT BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK, PRESSNUMMER 26 TO BOTH THE COVER AND TUREEN, MODELED BY J.J. KÄNDLER AND J.F. EBERLEIN

The 'Swan Service' was made for Count Brühl (1700-1763), the Prime Minister of Saxony and director of the Meissen factory from 1733-63. Brühl commissioned the service in 1737 on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Anna Franziska von Kolowrat-Krakowska. The molded decoration (a play on word Brühl, meaning 'watery') was carried out by J.J. Kändler with the assistance of J.F. Eberlein. It would appear to be the largest service produced in the 18th century and Rainer Rückert, Meissen Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, p. 118, estimates its original size to have been between 2,200 and 2,400 pieces. Kändler began work on the larger pieces for the service in the summer of 1737, when work on the large armorial service for Graf Sulkowski was still not complete. As director of the factory, Brühl would have been more than aware of Sulkowski's commission, which at the time was the largest privately commissioned armorial service to date, and it is probable that Brühl intended to compete with Sulkowski. The service remained in the possession of the family until after the Second World War.