
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
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Sold for £4,500 inc. premium
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Head of Department, Director

Department Director

Head of Sale
Two closely similar leaf-shaped dishes of around 1730 made for the French merchant, Rodolphe Lemaire, survive in the Dresden porcelain collection (G. Le Duc, Rodolphe Lemaire und das Meissner Porzellan. Fernöstlicher Stil oder Französischer Geschmack?, in Keramos 158 (1997), ill. 13). These are referred to in the 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace as "...Auster-Schaalen, in Form eines doppelten Blatts..." [oyster dishes in the form of a double-leaf]. The shape is based on a Japanese dish from the collection of Augustus the Strong, which was referred to in 1729 as a "Confect Schaale" [confectionary dish] (See J. Weber, Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, vol. II (2013), p. 155). Two further similar dishes with indianische Blumen are in the Ernst Schneider Collection (Weber, vol. II (2013), nos. 124-125).
The present lot most closely resembles the Lemaire pieces with the slightly earlier Kakiemon flower sprigs. It is therefore likely it was one of the first pieces made after the factory decided to continue producing the pattern and shape following the conclusion of the Lemaire affair in 1731.