Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 159
A Meissen flower-encrusted two-handled cup and cover, circa 1735
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £7,000
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Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
A Meissen flower-encrusted two-handled cup and cover, circa 1735
The cup applied with entwined branch handles with a ribbon at the base and elaborate floral swags between the top termonals, the cover applied with flowering branches entwined in the centre to form the handle, the interiors with a burnished gilt ground, reserved on the inside of the cover with a puce landscape scene within a formal border, with later gilt-metal mounts, the foot with pierced scrollwork and leafy branches, the rim with a pierced foliate gallery, 17cm high overall, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
With W W Warner Antiques, 2010
Literature
White, Mary, Living at the Whites' House, Vol.4, 2023, p.132
This rare and precious type of decoration has been associated with gifts of Meissen porcelain to Queen Sophie Dorothea of Prussia or Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia in 1735, and Maria Josepha, Electress of Saxony and Queen of Poland in 1738. J.J. Kaendler's work reports for November 1735 refer to bouillon cups with covers and stands applied with swags of roses tied with ribbons (quoted by S. Wittwer, 'Liasons Fragile: Exchanges of Gifts between Saxony and Prussia in the Early Eighteenth Century', in M. Cassidy-Geiger (ed.), Fragile Diplomacy, 2007, p.101). The work records in May, June of 1738 and September of 1739 specify that the 'flower service for Her Royal Majesty' (Maria Josepha) has applied decoration of other flowers as well as roses. This corresponds more closely with the decoration on the present lot, as well as related pieces recorded in the literature (see below). It is unclear, however, whether all the surviving pieces belong to a single service made for Maria Josepha, or whether further services or pieces in this style were produced.
A service of this type was sold from a New York private collection by Parke-Bernet Gallery New York, 15 January 1955, lot 465 (comprising: a teapot and cover, a hot water jug and cover, a sugar bowl and cover, eight two-handled cups, covers and saucers and three shaped dishes; parts of which were subsequently in the collection of Siegfried and Lola Kramarsky - see below). A similarly decorated circular écuelle and cover, together with a teapot, a coffee pot, a milk jug, two covered two-handled cups with stands and a circular tureen, cover and stand, are in the collection of the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (illustrated by M. Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain, 2008, fig. 256.1; and by U. Pietsch / C. Banz, Triumph der blauen Schwerter, 2010, no. 168). Other parts of the same or closely similar service were sold by the executors of the late Prince S.A. Radziwill at Christie's London, 4 July 1977, lot 170; and from the Kramarsky Collection, Christie's New York, 30 October 1993, lot 31 (of which a small two-handled bowl and cover is now in the Arnhold Collection, New York (Cassidy-Geiger, 2008, no.256). A pair of ecuelles, covers and stands is in the Louvre Museum, Paris (since 1884, inv. nos.TH582 and TH583). A coffee pot and cover, of which the spout, handle and applied flowers are covered in oxidised silver, is in the Grassi Museum, Leipzig (Dieter Gielke, Meissener Porzellan des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts, 2003, no. 274. A small two-handled bowl and cover is in the Museo Giuseppe Gianetti, Saronno (L. Brambilla Bruni, Porcellane di Meissen, 1994, no. 109). A covered two-handled cup and stand with similar applied decoration but without the purple landscape scenes is in the Hans Syz Collection (Hans Syz et al., Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection, 1979, no. 172).
Important Notice to Buyers
Condition is not specified in the lot cataloguing. Please request a condition report.