Footnotes

Provenance:
The Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden, delivered in October 1723;
Given by Augustus the Strong to King Vittorio Amedeo of Savoy in 1725;
Thence by descent to King Umberto II of Italy (1904-83);
An Important Collection of Early Meissen Wares. The property of the Head of a European Royal House, sold Christies Geneva, 7 June 1968, lot 59

Literature:
U. Pietsch, Frühes Meissener Porzellan aus einer Privatsammlung (1994), no. 65;
Julia Weber, Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, vol.I (2013), p. 25, ills. 6a-b

Exhibited:
Lübeck, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Hansestadt Lübeck - St. Annen-Museum, 'Frühes Meissener Porzellan aus einer Privatsammlung', 14 November-31 January 1994;
Aachen, Museen der Stadt Aachen - Couven Museum, 'Frühes Meissener Porzellan aus einer Privatsammlung', 26 February-20 April 1994

The Japanese bowl that served as a model for this bowl entered the collection of Augustus the Strong in March 1723 (Weber, loc. cit.). It is a measure of the value that Augustus attached to that bowl, and a handful of other pieces decorated in underglaze-blue and enamels, that he must have ordered Meissen to make copies within a very short time. An entry in the inventory of the then Holländisches Palais (known as the Japanisches Palais from 1727) shows that the Meissen copy (the current lot) was delivered only seven months later: 'Anno 1723 in October ist dem Porc. Gewölbe anhero geliefert worden No. 69 Ein 10eckigter wie Krack Porc: gemahlter Spül Napff mit überschlagenen braunen Rande' [in October 1723 no. 69 a ten-sided rinsing bowl with everted rim painted like Kraak (ie Japanese) porcelain was delivered to the Porcelain Vaults].

It is a further indication of the importance Augustus attached to porcelain in this style that this bowl was selected in 1725 for the large gift of porcelain to Augustus' friend, Vittorio Amadeo, the King of Sardinia. A note added to the inventory records: 'Diese sind im Julio 1725 dem König von Sardinien verehret worden' [these were bestowed in July 1725 upon the King of Sardinia]. For discussion of the exchange of gifts between Augustus the Strong and the King of Sardinia in 1725, see I. Menzhausen, Ein Porzellangeschenck Augusts des Starken für den König von Sardinien, in Keramos 119 (January 1988), pp. 99-102.

A closely similar Japanese bowl, formerly in the Royal collections of Saxony (Japanese Palace inv. no. 94), is in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo (Weber, ibid.); another, without inventory number is published by M. Shono, Japanisches Aritaporzellan im sogenannten 'Kakiemonstil' als Vorbild für die Meißener Porzellanmanufaktur (1973), ill. 128, along with a similar Meissen example (with crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue), ill. 129.