CIRCA 1780, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARKS, IMPRESSED 54 TO THE STAND

This soup-tureen and cover is related to a service with similar decoration that was ordered by Frederick The Great of Prussia for Graf Karl Wilhelm von Finckenstein (1714-1800), and it is possible that the present tureen may also have been commissioned by the King. Karl Wilhelm was the Prussian Ambassador to the Courts at Stockholm, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg, and later went on to become first Cabinet Minister. The von Finkenstein service, of which at least half was sold at Sotheby's, London, 22 February 1988, lot 382, is decorated with blue borders to the rims and specimen birds. The shape of the present lot appears to be inspired by a Sèvres model, 'pot à oglio'. A tureen and cover of this form was sold Christie's, London, 28 November 1977, lot 145 and a further example was sold Christie's, London, 1 December 2015, lot 84.