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A rare Meissen armorial teabowl and two saucers from the Foscari service circa 1740
£12,000 - £15,000
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Find your local specialistA rare Meissen armorial teabowl and two saucers from the Foscari service
Each painted with the coat-of-arms supported by putti against a scene depicting figures in landscape and harbour settings, iron-red double line borders, gilt foliate scrollwork borders to the rims, the teabowl with a circular harbour scene in purple monochrome, the saucers: 13cm and 13.2cm diam, the teabowl: 4.5cm high, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, three gilt dots in a triangle to each piece, impressed Dreher's mark for Johann Christoph Schumann and incised / to teabowl and first saucer, impressed 2 inside footrim of saucer, impressed Dreher's mark of Christian Meynert to second saucer (3)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Joseph A. Wilby Collection, sold Sotheby's London, 1 March 1994, lot 52 (teabowl and one saucer);
Acquired in the above sale;
Gustav von Klemperer Collection, Dresden (by 1928), sold Christie's Geneva, 13 November 1989, lot 145 (second saucer);
Acquired in the above sale
Literature:
Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1927, no. 253, pl. 27 (together with a cup);
Hoffmeister 1999, II, no. 330
Exhibited:
Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, 1999-2009
The Foscari family provided the longest-serving Doge in the history of Venice, Francesco Foscari, who was Doge from 1423 until he was forced to abdicate in 1458. This service may have been supplied to a later Francesco Foscari (1704-1790), a historian, lawyer and diplomat, who was envoy to Pope Benedict XIV (also the recipient of a Meissen service), Constantinople, Vienna and St. Petersburg. Francesco Foscari was also the owner of the palace in which Crown Prince Friedrich Christian of Saxony resided during his visit to Venice in late 1739. Although Foscari was not the prince's host, the size of the latter's entourage necessitated the use of his palace, and this service may have been given as a mark of gratitude (Cassidy-Geiger 2007, p. 225, n. 128).
In addition to the examples listed by Hoffmeister (Literature), several pieces from the service have been sold in recent years: a teabowl and saucer, sold Christie's London, 11 December 2007, lot 110, now in the David Roche Collection (Menz / Reason 2008, p. 41f); another sold Galerie Koller Zürich, 23 March 2009, lot 1720; a teapot and cover (lot 60), a teabowl and saucer (lot 61) and two teabowls (lot 62), sold Christie's London, 2 June 2009. The waste bowl, formerly in the Van Slyke Collection (sold Sotheby's New York, 26 September 1989, lot 109), is illustrated by Cassidy-Geiger 2007, fig. 10-39.
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