.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This service is believed to have been ordered by the Prussian East India Company as a gift for King Frederick II, who in 1750 found the Company. It was based in the German port of Emden, and was disbanded in 1757 as a result of the Seven Years' War. In 1755, one of the four ships sailing for the Company, the Prinz von Preussen, which was taking some of this service frm China to Emden, ran aground on the East Friesan island of Borkum, and the damaged pieces were salvaged, taken to Emden and offered at auction in 1764. For a detailed account of this service, see C. Le Corbeiller, China Trade Porcelain: Patterns of Exchange, 1974, pp. 80-83. About 153 pieces from this service were acquired in the late 19th Century by the Hohenzollernmuseum.
Similar plates to the present lot can be found in the British Museum, illustrated by R. Krahl and J. Harrison-Hall, Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics, Taibei, 1994, no. 124, pp. 278-279, and by M. Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, 1962, p. 195, cat. 195; and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated Chinese Export Art and Design, 1987, no. 46. Another, from the G. Hiard Collection, is illustrated in colour by F. and N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, fig. 14.32, p. 334. It is interesting to note that a pair of plates with these arms but with a Meissen style border is in the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by C. Le Corbeiller, ibid., no. 32, p. 81. Further pieces from this service are in the Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, Kunstgewerbemusem, Berlin, Huis Doorn, Doorn, The Netherlands, and in the Hodroff Collection, amongst others.
A wine cooler from this service was sold in these Rooms, 15 June 1999, lot 219.
Similar plates to the present lot can be found in the British Museum, illustrated by R. Krahl and J. Harrison-Hall, Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics, Taibei, 1994, no. 124, pp. 278-279, and by M. Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, 1962, p. 195, cat. 195; and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated Chinese Export Art and Design, 1987, no. 46. Another, from the G. Hiard Collection, is illustrated in colour by F. and N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, fig. 14.32, p. 334. It is interesting to note that a pair of plates with these arms but with a Meissen style border is in the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by C. Le Corbeiller, ibid., no. 32, p. 81. Further pieces from this service are in the Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, Kunstgewerbemusem, Berlin, Huis Doorn, Doorn, The Netherlands, and in the Hodroff Collection, amongst others.
A wine cooler from this service was sold in these Rooms, 15 June 1999, lot 219.