A very rare Meissen octagonal teabowl and saucer, circa 1730
20
An extremely rare Meissen octagonal teabowl and saucer, circa 1730
Each painted in the Kakiemon style with scattered flower-heads and leaves around central mon of iron-red chrysanthemums reserved on a purple foliate pattern, caduceus marks in underglaze-blue, incised / inside footrims, incised Japanese Palace inventory numbers N=351-/ W (teabowl) and N=352-/ W (saucer) (2)
Sold for £20,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • Provenance:
    Royal Collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden


    The 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace in Dresden records: 'Vier Stück detto [Caffée-Tassen], ohne Henckel, der Boden inwendig à la mosaique gemahlt, 2 1/2. Zoll tief, 3. Zoll in Diam: und Drey darzu gehörige Schälgen, 1. Zoll tief, 5 1/2. Zoll in Diam: No. 351' {four similar [coffee cups] without handles, the base inside painted à la mosaique [...] and three matching saucers...) (quoted by Claus Boltz, Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar 1769, in Keramos 153 (1996), p. 57). A similar teabowl, sold in these Rooms, 6 July 2010, lot 155, is now in the Bowes Museum, Castle Howard, inv. no. 2010.6/Cer, together with its matching saucer.

Category: Decorative Arts / European Ceramics

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Sebastian Kuhn Bonhams
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Specialist - European Ceramics