Footnotes

Provenance:
The Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden (from 1734);
Anon. Sotheby's London, 29 June 1982, lot 120

Literature:
Hoffmeister 1989, II, no. 344

Exhibition:
Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1999-2009

A lack of archival evidence means that it remains uncertain whether this service was ordered by Augustus the Strong before his death on 1 February 1733, or by his son in anticipation of his election to the Polish throne in Warsaw in January 1734. The prominence of the Polish arms perhaps suggests the latter, though the name 'Coronation service' is a 19th-century title.

The service was delivered to the Japanese Palace in Dresden in 1734, when, according to a delivery specification (published by Boltz 1996, p. 91), it comprised 77 parts in total, including 37 plates. In the inventory of the Japanese Palace of 1770 (Boltz 1996, p. 76), one finds the following entry under number 147: 'Ein Tafel-Service, mit dem Königl. Pohlnis, und ChurFürstl. Sächsi. Wappen, fein mit Golde und Zierrathen, aufm Boden mit gebundenen Korn-Aehren, und kleinen Blümgen, der Rand sehr reich mit vergoldeten Zierrathen eingefaßt' (a table service with the Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon arms, fine with gold and decorations, with bundles of corn sheaves and small flowers on the surface, the rim with very rich gold decorations). The inventory lists the same pieces as the 1734 delivery specification, except for three missing tureens and a broken plate. According to the catalogue of the Wark Collection catalogue, part of the service was transferred to the Hofconditorei (court pantry) in 1792, and was used at the Dresden Residence for special court functions (Wark 1984, p. 225).

In addition to the examples cited by Dieter Hoffmeister (Literature), other plates from the service are in the Seattle Art Museum (inv. no. 69.201, gift of Martha and Henry Isaacson); in the Ludwig Collection, Bamberg (Hennig (ed.) 1995, no. 142); and in the Arnhold Collection, New York (Cassidy-Geiger 2008, no. 186).