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A rare Meissen dish from the Münnich service circa 1738
£7,000 - £10,000
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Find your local specialistA rare Meissen dish from the Münnich service
Painted with the arms within the Collar and Badge of the Russian Order of St Andrew above the motto Obsequio et candore, flanked by oval cartouches and martial trophies all hung with swags and scattered indianische Blumen, the border with moulded Sulkowski-Ozier basketwork, 18.cm diam., crossed swords in underglaze blue, incised x
Footnotes
Provenance:
Dr. Albert Weitnauer Collection, Zürich, sold Christie's Geneva, 11 November 1985, lot 353;
Acquired in the above sale
Literature:
Hoffmeister 1999, II, no. 346;
Pietsch (ed.) 2004, cat. no. 41
Exhibited:
Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1999-2009;
Dresden, Residenzschloss, Meissen für die Zaren, 4 July to 26 September 2004, no. 41
Generalfeldmarschall Burchard Christoph Graf von Münnich (1683-1767) entered the service of Augustus the Strong in 1716 and quickly became General Inspector of Polish troops and Commander of the Royal Guard. In 1721, he entered the service of Czar Peter the Great, and under Peter II, became General of the Infantry and was ennobled as Count (Graf) in 1728. Under Czarina Anna Ivanovna, he was appointed Privy Councillor, Minister of War and, in 1732, Field Marshall. He was awarded the Order of St. Andrew in 1734. He was exiled to Siberia by Czarina Elizabeth following the palace coup of 1741, and was rehabilitated only 20 years later by Peter III. He resumed high office and died in 1767 during the reign of Catherine the Great, who commented at his death: 'Even if he wasn't a Son of Russia, he was one of its Fathers.'
The service may have been a gift from the Saxon Elector, Friedrich Augustus, in gratitude for Münnich's role in the War of the Polish succession (1733-35/38), which resulted in Friedrich Augustus' election as King (Augustus III) of Poland.
Other examples from this service are illustrated by Pietsch (ed.) 2004, pp. 50-55. Other pieces from this rare service to be offered recently at auction include a plate at Sotheby's London, 2 December 2003, lot 29; a plate at Stockholms Auktionsverket, 5 October 2007, lot 282l; and a plate at Sotheby's London, Russian Works of Art, 12 June 2008, lot 722. Two other plates were offered at Lempertz Cologne, 9 May 2009.
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