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Lot Essay
There are only two known tureens and stands from this service. The other one, which formed part of lot 121 in the sale cited above, was subsequently sold by Christie's Geneva on 16th November 1981, lot 96 and again by Christie's Geneva on 11th May 1987, lot 189.
For plates from this service, all 9¼ inches (23.5 cm.) in diameter, sold anonymously in Christie's King Street galleries, see the example sold 10 March 1970, lot 48; another on 30 September 1991, lot 155, and the pair 1 June 1992, lot 43.
For an illustrated sugar-caster and plate in the Hoffmeister Collection, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, see Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister, Hamburg, 1999, Vol II, pp. 552-553, nos. 368 and 369, and p. 602 for more detailed discussion of Münchhausen's life.
The arms, a Cistercian monk on a field or, is that of Gerlach Adolf von Münchhausen (1688-1770), and not of Freiherrn Karl Heronymus von Münchhausen (1720-1797) as previously thought.
A younger son of a Saxon nobleman, Münchhausen was appointed to the court of appeals in Dresden in 1714 and a year later entered into the service of Brunswick-Hanover. George II of England, also Elector of Hanover, appointed him to the Court in Celle and from 1732 he governed the English King's lands in the area on his behalf. He increasingly rose to prominence in political circles, developing a particularly strong relationship with the Kings of England. After George II's death, George III appointed him first minister of Brunswick-Hanover.
It would appear that the service was a gift from Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony as Münchhausen engineered, after some negotiation, a loan of 3.5 million thalers from Brunswick to Saxony. Correspondence between Graf von Hennicke and Münchhausen (now in the Dresden archives) also record Hennicke urgently requesting a drawing of Münchhausen's coat of arms (letter dated 4th January 1745), and by April, Münchhausen wrote to thank him for 'the magnificent gift of porcelain from His Majesty'. There has been some speculation as to which monarch Münchhausen was referring, either George II of England or Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, but it is much more probable that it was a reference to Augustus III.
For plates from this service, all 9¼ inches (23.5 cm.) in diameter, sold anonymously in Christie's King Street galleries, see the example sold 10 March 1970, lot 48; another on 30 September 1991, lot 155, and the pair 1 June 1992, lot 43.
For an illustrated sugar-caster and plate in the Hoffmeister Collection, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, see Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister, Hamburg, 1999, Vol II, pp. 552-553, nos. 368 and 369, and p. 602 for more detailed discussion of Münchhausen's life.
The arms, a Cistercian monk on a field or, is that of Gerlach Adolf von Münchhausen (1688-1770), and not of Freiherrn Karl Heronymus von Münchhausen (1720-1797) as previously thought.
A younger son of a Saxon nobleman, Münchhausen was appointed to the court of appeals in Dresden in 1714 and a year later entered into the service of Brunswick-Hanover. George II of England, also Elector of Hanover, appointed him to the Court in Celle and from 1732 he governed the English King's lands in the area on his behalf. He increasingly rose to prominence in political circles, developing a particularly strong relationship with the Kings of England. After George II's death, George III appointed him first minister of Brunswick-Hanover.
It would appear that the service was a gift from Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony as Münchhausen engineered, after some negotiation, a loan of 3.5 million thalers from Brunswick to Saxony. Correspondence between Graf von Hennicke and Münchhausen (now in the Dresden archives) also record Hennicke urgently requesting a drawing of Münchhausen's coat of arms (letter dated 4th January 1745), and by April, Münchhausen wrote to thank him for 'the magnificent gift of porcelain from His Majesty'. There has been some speculation as to which monarch Münchhausen was referring, either George II of England or Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, but it is much more probable that it was a reference to Augustus III.