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Lot Essay
The engravings by Melchior Küssel published in Underschidliche Prospecten Welche er in dennen Landen Italiae und dan auf seiner Heimreis, Friaul, Kdrnten, Steir, nach dem Leben gezeichnet, In das Kupfer gebracht durch Mechioren Küssell zu Augspurg (1681), and in Iconographia, begreift in sich Allerhand Meerporten, Gaerten Palatia, so durch Italia und benachbarten Provincien zu sehen, von dem Auctore nach dem Leben gezeichnet, Augsburg...durch Mechoir Küssell (1682) were used as the principal graphic sources for this service.
Samuel Christie-Miller reputedly bought the service in Paris from a member of the House of Orléans in about 1840, but the early provenance of this service still remains obscure, and it is not known for whom the service was originally made. Ulrich Pietsch suggests that the sheer quality of the decoration, executed by the leading artists at Meissen, Christian Friedrich Herold, George Heintze and Bonaventura Gottlieb Häuer, indicates that it may have been a gift from Augustus III to the French Court. This is extremely probable, given that his daughter Josepha married the dauphin in 1747.
Until the appearance of 72 pieces from the Estate of the late S.R. Christie-Miller at Sotheby's London in 1970, only one piece of the service, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, had been known and published. For the example in the Carabelli Collection, Switzerland, see Ulrich Pietsch, 'Frühes Meissner Porzellan, Sammlung Carabelli' Catalogue (Munich, 2000), pp. 242-243, no. 118, and p. 244, where he mentions an example in the Pauls Collection, Switzerland which has a G.H. monogram on the saddlebag of a horse, which he attributes to George Heintze. For the examples in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, see D. Hoffmeister, 'Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts', Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister (Hamburg, 1999), Vol. I, nos. 96-101. Three dishes from the service, sold by Sotheby's on 7th July 1970, lots 1, 20 and 43, are now in the Pflueger Collection, New York, and are illustrated by Hugo Morley-Fletcher, 'Early European Porcelain & Faience as collected by Kiyi and Edward Pflueger' Catalogue (London, 1993), pp. 42-45.
Samuel Christie-Miller reputedly bought the service in Paris from a member of the House of Orléans in about 1840, but the early provenance of this service still remains obscure, and it is not known for whom the service was originally made. Ulrich Pietsch suggests that the sheer quality of the decoration, executed by the leading artists at Meissen, Christian Friedrich Herold, George Heintze and Bonaventura Gottlieb Häuer, indicates that it may have been a gift from Augustus III to the French Court. This is extremely probable, given that his daughter Josepha married the dauphin in 1747.
Until the appearance of 72 pieces from the Estate of the late S.R. Christie-Miller at Sotheby's London in 1970, only one piece of the service, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, had been known and published. For the example in the Carabelli Collection, Switzerland, see Ulrich Pietsch, 'Frühes Meissner Porzellan, Sammlung Carabelli' Catalogue (Munich, 2000), pp. 242-243, no. 118, and p. 244, where he mentions an example in the Pauls Collection, Switzerland which has a G.H. monogram on the saddlebag of a horse, which he attributes to George Heintze. For the examples in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, see D. Hoffmeister, 'Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts', Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister (Hamburg, 1999), Vol. I, nos. 96-101. Three dishes from the service, sold by Sotheby's on 7th July 1970, lots 1, 20 and 43, are now in the Pflueger Collection, New York, and are illustrated by Hugo Morley-Fletcher, 'Early European Porcelain & Faience as collected by Kiyi and Edward Pflueger' Catalogue (London, 1993), pp. 42-45.