A PAIR OF BERLIN ARMORIAL SOUP-PLATES after the Meissen service made for the von Podewils, painted with indianische Blumen and the border surmounted by the Arms, the lobed rim applied with gilt shells (slight rubbing to rims), blue sceptre marks and impressed X, circa 1775

The Arms are those of Graff Heinrich von Podewils, (1695-1760), Count of Pomerania one of Frederick the Great's leading ministers. This service was probably a diplomatic gift to Podewils in about 1742, in connection with the 2nd Silesian War in which Prussia was allied to Saxony. He was ennobled in 1741. The present examples were presumably replacements or addition to the Meissen service.

The majority of the Podewils service was formerly in the Ole Olsen Collection, see Hermann Schmitz, op. cit., no. 1463