A MEISSEN IRON-RED GROUND PART SERVICE

Property of A NEW YORK COLLECTOR THE MÖLLENDORFF SERVICE (Lots 197-214) LITERATURE W.B. Honey, Dresden China, pp. 125-127, plate LIV W.B. Honey, German Porcelain, plate 13A Günter Reinheckel, Prachtvolle Service aus Meissner Porzellan, nos. 97, 98 Designed by Frederick the Great of Prussia in collaboration with Karl Jacob Christian Klipfel, the Möllendorff Service was presented to the Prussian Field Marshall, General Wichard Joachin Heinrich V. Möllendorff, in thanks for services rendered during the Seven Years War. The design, properly called the preussisch-musikalischem Dessin, refers specifically to the shapes and moulded decoration which were are also found on later Meissen production and which prefigure the moulded decoration of Berlin services made in for Frederick II later in the century. It is the combination of the moulded decoration with the gilt scale border which refer specifically to the Möllendorff gift from which the service takes its name. An original bill of sale dated April 7, 1761 survives listing the cost of the service at 9,412 thalers. What is not clear is how many pieces comprised the full service, their shapes and sizes, and whether all were commissioned at one time or if pieces were added to the initial service. The Meissen archives list deliveries of Möllendorff pieces on 5 October 1762, 24 November 1762, 26 April 176(3), 21 May 1763, 30 May 1763, and 10 July 1763. Piecing together these records, the extensive service appears to have included the following pieces: One hundred and forty-four plates Forty soup plates Twelve bowls, size 1 Sixteen bowls, size 2 Twelve bowls, size 3 Forty Glöcken, sizes 1, 2 and 3 Eight Salladieren Eight compotes Six large oval tureens, covers and stands Six round tureens, covers and stands Twelve ragout (heavy-sauce) tureens, covers and stands Twelve toasting bowls, four each in three sizes Eight sauce-boats and ladles Four butter tubs and spoons Twelve salts Two hundred-sixteen knives, forks and spoons One complete plat de ménage One smaller plat de ménage Sixty-eight confectionary leaves in six sizes Eight four-branch candelabra Six dessert baskets Six flower pots Four display dishes (credenz-Teller) Twenty-four oyster shells Four dozen dinner plates Twelve dozen soup plates Ten dozen dessert plates Upon the death of General Möllendorff in 1818, the service was inherited by Count Wilamowitz-Möllendorff in whose family it descended. The service must have been split up at some point in the late 19th century, as on May 5, 1914 a group of pieces in the collection of H.J. King, Esq., forming a dessert service and including the plats de ménage, were offered at auction at Christie's London. Unsold, it was re-offered February 17, 1921 and acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in whose collection it remains. Möllendorf pieces have come onto the market sporatically throughout the 20th century. Of note are the one hundred and twenty-two pieces from the service sold at Christie's New York, November 11, 1977 on behalf of the estate of the late Elinor Dorrance Ingersoll. The ninety-five pieces offered today on behalf of a New York collector were acquired prior to 1938. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Herr Claus Boltz in deciphering the Meissen records relating to the Möllendorf Service.

Details

A MEISSEN IRON-RED GROUND PART SERVICE
CIRCA 1762, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS AND VARIOUS INCISED MARKS, FROM MODELS BY FREDERIC II OF PRUSSIA AND KARL JAKOB CHRISTIAN KLIPFEL

Painted in iron-red enriched with gilt with indianische Blumen, moulded with rocaille cartouches enriched with gilt and alternately enclosing moulded trophies of Music and of flowers, the rim gilt with scales on the iron-red ground, with gilt dentil edge (minor wear to gilding, minimal stacking wear), comprising:
An oval tureen, cover and stand (cover cracked, nicks to flowers on handles and to footrim, the stand incised H, its central support ground)--19in. (48.2cm.) wide overall
A Wärmeglocke and circular platter (minor scratching to top of dome, the platter with pressnummer 36 and dreher's llll, rim chip)--15 3/8in. (39cm.) diam., the platter
A Wärmeglocke and circular platter (rim chip and kiln spitting to cover)--13½in. (34.3cm.) diam., the platter
Two lozenge-shaped two-handled trays (with dreher's H and HH, kiln supports ground, nick to tip of one rocaille shell handle)--20¾in. (52.8cm.) wide overall
Four shell-shaped dishes, the underside moulded as a shell--7¼in. (18.5cm.) wide
Four triangular leaf dishes with branch handles (dreher's K, minor nicks to edge, one chipped)--9in. (22.8cm.) wide
Four circular leaf dishes with branch handles (minor chips to the edges, one with glaze flaws, two with footrim chips)--10¾in. (27.3cm.) wide
Four shell-shaped boxes and covers, numbered top and bottom 2, 4, 7, 9 (rim chip to cover of box 2 and bottom of box 4)-- 4¾in. (12cm.) wide
Two shell-shaped salts on scroll feet--3 7/8in. (9.8cm.) wide
A two-handled double-lipped sauce-boat (minor wear to basin)--9¼in. (23.5cm.) long, 6½in. (16.5cm.) wide overall
Ten dinner plates (pressnummer 36)--10¼in. (26cm.) diam.
Ten soup plates (pressnummer 22, stacking wear)--9¾in. (24.8cm.) diam.
Ten pierced dessert plates--10in. (25.4cm.) diam. (54)