CIRCA 1737, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK

This basket is one of the smaller of two sizes designed by Johann Joachim Kändler for the Saxon Cabinet Minister, Count Heinrich von Brühl. It was left undecorated probably due to firing issues. Kändler recorded in June 1737 the completion of two life-size drawings of 'Eparnien auf Japanische Art' for the count, and then in July-August 1737 he notes 'for His Excellency Count Brühl, [of] a large épergne or Plat Menage in the Indian manner, so that the upper part into which the lemons will be put, is decorated with figures, Indian birds seated on branches overgrown with flowers'. The finished centrepiece was to include oil and vinegar cruets and other small serving wares.

The only complete 'plat de ménage' of this design is in the collection of the Ernst Schneider foundation at Schloss Lustheim. Further incomplete examples exist in various private and public collections. An example of this basket with coloured enamels was sold at Sotheby's New York, 10 November 2006, lot 202 ($168,000). A further example in the white is held in the Victoria & Albert Museum (museum number C.258-1921).