
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
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Sold for £1,875 inc. premium
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Head of Department, Director

Department Director

Head of Sale
Provenance:
Saxon Royal Court Pantry, Dresden/Warsaw
For a comprehensive discussion of the history of the 'Gelber Löwe' service in the 18th century, see Julia Weber, Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, vol. II (2013), pp. 265-274. The 'Gelber Löwe' pattern was first produced at Meissen after a Japanese porcelain original as part of the large order placed by the Paris merchant, Rodolphe Lemaire, for copies of Asian porcelain. A large quantity of plates and dishes painted in this style were among the porcelain confiscated in April 1731 in the house of Lemaire's accomplice at the Dresden court, Count von Hoym, and subsequently sent to the Japanese Palace.
In 1739, a substantial group of 'Gelber Löwe' porcelain was removed from the Japanese Palace to the Hofconditorei, probably for use in Warsaw on the dessert table. A table service was ordered around 1739, and further deliveries continued in the 1740s. An inventory made at the end of 1764, after the loss of the Polish throne and the return of the service to Dresden, lists more than 2500 pieces with the 'Gelber Löwe' pattern.