A MEISSEN ARMORIAL TWO-HANDLED LOZENGE-SHAPED DISH FROM THE SWAN SERVICE
A MEISSEN ARMORIAL TWO-HANDLED LOZENGE-SHAPED DISH FROM THE SWAN SERVICE

CIRCA 1740, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK, DREHER'S MARK FOR SCHIEFER

Details
A MEISSEN ARMORIAL TWO-HANDLED LOZENGE-SHAPED DISH FROM THE SWAN SERVICE
CIRCA 1740, BLUE CROSSED SWORDS MARK, DREHER'S MARK FOR SCHIEFER
Modelled by J.F. Eberlein, the central shell-shaped panel moulded with water, swans, bulrushes and herons, the radiating shell-moulded border painted with indianische Blumen and centred at the top with the coat-of-arms, the shaped rim and handles enriched with gilding (extensively broken and repaired, the handles restored replacements, wear to gilding)
15¾ in. (40 cm.) wide
Provenance
Heinrich Count von Brühl (1700-1763), Schloss Pförten, Brody, Poland, and thence by descent until the Second World War.

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Mary O'Connell
Mary O'Connell

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Lot Essay

The Swan service was made for Count Brühl (1700-1763), the Prime Minister of Saxony and director of the Meissen factory from 1733-63. Brühl commissioned the service in 1737 on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Anna Franziska von Kolowrat-Krakowska. The moulded decoration (a play on the word Brühl, meaning 'watery') was carried out by J.J. Kändler with the assistance of J.F. Eberlein, and Kändler began work on the larger pieces for the service in the summer of 1737. It would appear to be the largest service produced in the 18th century and Rainer Rückert (Meissen Porzellan 1710-1810, Munich, 1966, p. 118) estimates its original size to have been between 2,200 and 2,400 pieces.

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