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A Meissen armorial teabowl and saucer from the Grimani service circa 1725
£10,000 - £12,000
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Find your local specialistA Meissen armorial teabowl and saucer from the Grimani service
Each painted with the arms of Grimani, the teabowl with a chinoiserie scene depicting a figure feeding birds within gilt quatrelobe cartouche filled with Böttger lustre and embellished with iron-red and purple scrollwork, the well of the teabowl with a spray of indianische Blumen within iron-red concentric circles, gilt-edged rims, the saucer: 12cm diam., two impressed dots inside footrim of saucer (perhaps for Johann Martin Kittel) (2)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Edna, Lady Tate, sold Christie's London, 6 March 1995, lot 245;
Acquired in the above sale
Literature:
Hoffmeister 1999, II, no. 303
Exhibited:
Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1999-2009
This cup and saucer is from a tea service decorated with the coat of arms of the Grimani family. It is most likely to have been produced for Pietro Grimani (1677-1752) who was ambassador to England, Vienna and Rome, respectively; he was also Doge of Venice between 1741 and 1752. The Grimanis had been prominent in Venice since the 10th Century and Pietro was the third Doge in the family.
In Sansovino's guide to Venice in 1581, he declared that there were 'four patrician palaces in the city that surpassed all others in size, grandeur and expense' (Deborah Howard, The Architectural History of Venice, p. 186) the Palazzo Grimani by Sanmicheli, was one of them. The Grimanis were also active patrons of art and architecture in Venice.
Pietro Grimani had been involved in the peace treaty between Austria and the Ottoman Empire in 1720 when he was Procurator of San Marco; this particular tea service may have been a diplomatic gift for his endeavours.
Pietro Grimani was also most likely to be the recipient of a Cozzi tea service with his coat of arms dated to 1765-70, of which a covered milk jug was sold at Christie's Paris, 13 December 2006, lot 85.
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