Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 15*
A very rare large Meissen circular dish from the Swan Service, circa 1739
2 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£20,000 - £30,000
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Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
Ghislaine Howard
Sale Coordinator
A very rare large Meissen circular dish from the Swan Service, circa 1739
Of the 6th size, modelled by J.J. Kaendler in low relief with swans swimming among bullrushes and a crane to the left with another in flight overhead, all on a shell-moulded ground, the rim painted with the arms of Brühl/Kolowrat-Krakowska, three flower sprogs and further scattered blooms, the rim with a gilt border, 47.2cm, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, impressed Dreher's mark + in a circle, incised "6." (some scattered flaking to gilt rim)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Anon. sale, Sotheby's London, 8th June 1999, lot 81;
Acquired in the above sale
Literature:
Pietsch, U. (ed.), Schwanenservice Meissener Porzellan für Heinrich Graf von Brühl, 2000, p. 160, no. 30
Exhibited:
Dresden, Schloss, Schwanenservice Meissener Porzellan für Heinrich Graf von Brühl, 6 May to 13 August 2000
This is a rare example of the largest of the five sizes of circular dish in the Swan Service, the models for which are mentioned in Kaendler's overtime work between April and July 1738: "Fünf Stück Schüßeln, von No 2-No 6 nach dem Abfall, in gestalt einer gewachsenen Muschel, worinnen Waßer, worauf 2. sauber ausgearbeitete Schwäne in Schilff schwimmen, nebst einem Fisch Reyher, welcher einen Fisch in Schnabel hält, dergleichen auch einer über dem Waßer flieget, vor Sr Excellenz den Herrn Reichs Grafen von Brühlen" [five dishes, from no 2-no 6 in order of size, in the form of a grown shell in which there is water on which two cleanly worked swans are swimming among reeds, next to a crane holding a fish in its beak, another also in flight over the water, for his Excellency Reichsgraf von Brühl] (quoted by Pietsch, Schwanenservice, p. 160). The mould for the largest dish (6th size) had to be repaired by Kaendler in January and May 1739. Another dish of this size was offered at Sotheby's London, 17 June 1986, lot 234.