Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
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Lot 52*
2 May 2013, 13:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£12,000 - £18,000
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A rare Meissen armorial teabowl and saucer from the service for Christian VI of Denmark, circa 1725-26
The saucer decorated with the crowned Royal Arms of Denmark, reserved on the chain of the Order of the Elephant, the teabowl with the crowned monogram of Christian VI flanked by crossed palm fronds on one side, flanked by indianische Blumen, and a superbly painted harbour scene on the reverse, within a gilt cartouche embellished with scrollwork and floral swags, the well with a circular medallion of chrysanthemum heads reserved on a purple trellis within iron-red borders, gilt scrollwork borders to the rims, the reverse of the saucer with a bird, insect and trailing indianische Blumen, the teabowl: 4.1cm high; the saucer: 12.1cm diam., crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, gilt 1. to both, incised / inside footrims (2)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Given by Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, to King Christian VI of Denmark in 1726; his consort
Queen Sophie Magdalene of Denmark (1700-70); Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, to 1794;
Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen, 1795-97;
Sold in 1797 as part of lot 7 in the sale of property damaged in the 1795 fire at Christianborg Palace;
Sold by the descendants of the purchaser in the above sale, Christie's London, 1 December 1986, lot 186 (part);
Anon. sale, Christie's London, 21 November 2005, lot 220
Literature:
Ulrich Pietsch, Passion for Meissen (2010), no. 74
This service was unusual for combining chinoiserie decoration and European harbour scenes, and for its size. When it was sold in 1797, it was described as including two waste bowls, two sugar boxes and eighteen pairs of teabowls, but no coffee pot. The waste bowl, two beakers and saucers and two teabowls and saucers were acquired by Rosenborg Castle in 1986. A teabowl and saucer from the service is in the Arnhold Collection, New York (M. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain (2008), no. 100); another is in the Carabelli Collection (U. Pietsch, Frühes Meißener Porzellan Sammlung Carabelli (2000), no. 57); and another was sold in these Rooms from the Hoffmeister Collection, 26 May 2010, lot 70.
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