CIRCA 1738, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK

The service to which this plate belonged was made for General Field Marshall Burchard Christoph Graf von Münnich (1683-1767). The service was a gift (along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle) from the Saxon Elector, Friedrich August, in recognition of Münnich's important role in the War of the Polish succession (1733-35/38), which resulted in Friedrich August's election as King (Augustus III) of Poland. In 1734, Münnich led the 135-day siege of Danzig, where Friedrich August's rival, Stanislaw Leszcynsky, had taken shelter. The decision to give Münnich a gift may have been made around this time. The service is first mentioned in 1738, though it seems possible that it was the elevation of Münnich to First Minister (at the end of 1740) that resulted in the service finally being delivered. For a detailed discussion of the service by Anette Loesch in Ulrich Pietsch (ed.), Meissen for the Czars: Porcelain as a Means of Saxon-Russian Politics in the Eighteenth Century, Exhibition Catalogue, Munich, 2004, pp. 50-51 and pp. 50-55, cat. nos. 38-45, for other examples of pieces from the service.