CIRCA 1795, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS AND STAR MARKS, PAINTER'S 4 TO TRAY, PRESSNUMMER 36 TO TRAY, 24 TO TEAPOT, 25 TO HOT-MILK JUG, TRACES OF NUMERALS TO COFFEE-POT, GILDER'S B. AND PAINTER'S L. MARKS, DREHERS'S V MARK TO COFFEE-CUP

Details

A MEISSEN (MARCOLINI) SILHOUETTE SOLITAIRE
CIRCA 1795, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS AND STAR MARKS, PAINTER'S 4 TO TRAY, PRESSNUMMER 36 TO TRAY, 24 TO TEAPOT, 25 TO HOT-MILK JUG, TRACES OF NUMERALS TO COFFEE-POT, GILDER'S B. AND PAINTER'S L. MARKS, DREHERS'S V MARK TO COFFEE-CUP
Painted in black with profile portraits of the Saxon Royal Family, each titled in black script below, within black and white chequered gilt oval cartouches, festooned with ribbon-tied two-tone gilt rose garlands, within borders of gilt ovolo ornament, the teapot, coffee-pot and hot-milk jug moulded with two-tone bronzed wreaths below the spouts, the angular channeled with black and gilt bands, the covers with gilt bud finials with foliate terminals, comprising:

An oval tray painted with a family group depicting Antoine seated at a piano forte, Maximilien at his side, Therese, Marianne and Therese reading from sheet music, on a chequered grey floor (very slight wear to gilt rim)
A bullet-shaped teapot and cover, painted with Frederic and Auguste (finial restored, cover chipped on inner rim, teapot with shallow chipping to upper rim, small chip to handle)
A baluster coffee-pot and cover, painted with Charles and Elisabeth
A baluster hot-milk jug and cover, painted with Albert and Marie (minute chipping to finial and cover, small chip to spout and tip of husk)
A globular sugar-bowl and domed cover, painted with Charlotte and Antoinette (cover with slight wear to gilt border, minute shallow footrim chip)
A coffee-cup and saucer, the cup painted with Ferdinand, the saucer with Louis (handle cracked and restored with associated areas of retouching to gilding, saucer broken through and restored)
(very slight wear to gilding throughout)
The tray 14 ¾ in. (37.8 cm.) wide

Provenance

This solitaire was formerly in the possession of the Bell family at Stobe House, Winston, and was reputedly brought to England from France at the time of the Revolution by a French ancestor who married into the Bell family. The solitaire remained in the Bell family until the Stobe House sale in the 1970s, when it was purchased by the present owner.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

For a coffee-cup and saucer painted in a similar style signed Samuel Mohn, see Rainer Rückert, Meissener Porzellan (Munich, 1966), p. 187, pl. 792.

The sitters are members of the Saxon Royal Family, centred around Frederick Augustus III, Elector of Saxony (1750-1827). His brothers Anton, Electoral Prince of Saxony (1755-1836) and Maximilien (1759-1838) appear on the tray alongside Anton's wife, Therese Archduchess of Austria (1767-1827). The coffee-pot is painted with Charles, Duke Carl Christian Joseph of Saxony (1733-1796) who became Duke of Courland in 1758 and his sister, Elisabetha Princess of Saxony (1736-1818), is on the reverse. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen (1738-1822), uncle of Frederick Augustus III appears on the hot-milk jug alongside Marie, perhaps a likeness of his wife the Archduchess Marie Christine (1742-1798). It was not unusual to incorporate deceased first spouses in family portraits, in this instance Charlotte of Sardinia (1764-1782), first wife of Prince Anton appears on the sugar-bowl. Ferdinand, Duke of Parma (1751-1801) and his son Louis I of Eturia (1773-1803) are on the coffee-cup and saucer.

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