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A very rare Meissen saucer circa 1723
Sold for £15,600 inc. premium
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Find your local specialistA very rare Meissen saucer
Painted with a Commedia dell'Arte figure of Capitano Spavento, on a grassy base flanked by flowering bushes, enclosed by three iron-red circles, gilt-edged rim, 12.9cm diam.
Footnotes
Provenance:
Dott. Guido Rossi Collection, Milan;
Purchased at Semenzato, 5 April 1984, lot 145
Literature:
Pietsch 1996, no. 22;
Hoffmeister 1999, I, no. 10
Exhibited:
Dresden, Porzellansammlung im Zwinger, Johann Gregorius Höroldt 1696-1775 und die Meissener Porzellanmalerei, 4 August to 20 October 1996, no. 22;
Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1999-2009
Several other pieces from this rare early service are recorded: two teabowls and saucers in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (Pietsch 1996, nos. 16-19); a teapot and cover in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (Pietsch 1996, no. 15; Jansen 2001, no. 53); and a coffee pot and cover in a private collection (Pietsch 1996, no.13).
The painting of some of the figures on this service has been attributed to J.G. Höroldt (Pietsch 1996, p. 42), who, in a letter of 28th August 1722 to Augustus the Strong, wrote that he has delivered "3 Service ... von gantz extraordinarer Arbeit" [3 services of extraordinary work], and that "er wüntschete von den letzten Carnevals-Banden die Zeichnung, deren Kleider, umb soche aufs Service zumahlen" [he requests drawings of the costumes of the last carnival groups in order to paint them on a service] (quoted by Hoffmeister, I, p. 36). This figure may be based upon an engraving of 1635 by Abraham Bosse (Pietsch 1996, p. 50).
