Footnotes

Provenance:
The Royal collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden (from 1734);
Private Collection, Germany (by 1997)

Literature:
U. Pietsch/K. Jakobsen, Frühes Meissener Porzellan (1997), no. 22

Exhibited:
Düsseldorf, Hetjens-Museum, 'Frühes Meissener Porzellan Kostbarkeiten aus deutschen Privatsammlungen', 19 January-6 April 1997;
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Porzellansammlung im Zwinger, Albertinum, 'Frühes Meissener Porzellan Kostbarkeiten aus deutschen Privatsammlungen', 7 May-13 July 1997


A lack of archival evidence means that it remains uncertain whether this service was ordered by Augustus the Strong before his death on 1 February 1733, or by his son in anticipation of his election to the Polish throne in Warsaw in January 1734. The prominence of the Polish arms perhaps suggests the latter, though the name 'Coronation service' is a 19th-century title.

The service was delivered to the Japanese Palace in Dresden in 1734, when, according to a delivery specification (published by C. Boltz, Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar 1769, in Keramos 153 (July 1996), p. 91), it comprised 77 parts in total, including 37 plates, and only six such small lobed dishes. The 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace (Boltz, ibid., p. 76), lists the service under number 147: 'Ein Tafel-Service, mit dem Königl. Pohlnis, und ChurFürstl. Sächsi. Wappen, fein mit Golde und Zierrathen, aufm Boden mit gebundenen Korn-Aehren, und kleinen Blümgen, der Rand sehr reich mit vergoldeten Zierrathen eingefaßt' [a table service with the Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon arms, fine with gold and decorations, with bundles of corn sheaves and small flowers on the surface, the rim with very rich gold decorations]. The inventory lists the same pieces as the 1734 delivery specification, except for three missing tureens and a broken plate. According to the catalogue of the Wark Collection catalogue (1984, no. 516), part of the service was transferred to the Hofconditorei (court pantry) in 1792, and was used at the Dresden Residence for special court functions.

In addition to the examples listed by Dieter Hoffmeister (Meissen Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts Sammlung Hoffmeister, vol. II (1999), nos. 343-344) other plates from the service are in the Seattle Art Museum (inv. no. 69.201, gift of Martha and Henry Isaacson); in the Ludwig Collection, Bamberg (R. Hanemann (pub.), Goldchinesen und Indianischen Blumen (2010), no. 69); and in the Arnhold Collection, New York (M. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain 1710-50 (2008), no. 186). Two plates were sold in these Rooms from the Hoffmeister Collection, 25 November 2009, lot 74, and 26 May 2010, lot 65, and a circular dish was sold in these Rooms from a Private European Collection, 6 Dec 2018, lot 260.