Big Meissen plate of the first royal court service with the ‘Yellow Lion’
Palace no ‘N=149-W’ (engraved and filled with black pigment)
Meissen 1734; underglaze blue swords mark
Former’s mark ‘x’ for Johann Daniel Rehschuh (Rückert 1996 fig. 6 no. 33, fig. 7 no. 7)
Ø 34,9 cm (= 14 3/4 sächs. Zoll)
Provenance: August III (1734 Royal Collection in the Japanese Palace); Lord Robinson (January 1737) or August III (1738 Residence, Warsaw); Perles, Paris (Cat. no. 6 / 2006 no. 56)
Description
The royal court service with the Yellow Lion (Gelber Löwe) motif goes back to the former manufactory director Count Hoym. His collaboration with the Parisian merchant Rudolphe Lemaire gave the impetus to create a Meissen service carrying this special motif adapting a Japanese model. In 1731, after the Hoym-Lemaire affair was uncovered, 245 porcelains with this particular decor were confiscated and incorporated into the Royal Collections. Of these confiscated porcelains we have a deep dish with the Palace number N=8-W as well.
After August's coronation as King of Poland (17.01.1734) the service was extended by further 96 parts (including our big plate). These porcelains received the palace number N=149-W. The Yellow Tiger service was exclusively intended for the Royal table.
In 1737, August separated parts of his service and gave it as a gift to the British Ambassador Lord Robinson in gratitude for his support during the War of the Polish Succession (‘Polnischer Erbfolgekrieg’). The remaining pieces were sent to the Warsaw Royal Residence to serve as the court service there. Of this historically important Service with palace number N=149-W – first royal order for court service at all – only 4 pieces have proven to be kept until today:
- Segal Antiquitäten Basel 2009, plate Ø 49,5 cm (= 21 Saxonian inch)
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Inv. Nr. 42.205.125), plate Ø 37,5 cm (= 16 Saxonian inch)
- Museum für angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt (Bauer 1983 Nr. 53), plate Ø 34,1 cm (= 14 1/2 Saxonian inch)
- Elfriede Langeloh
Please contact us for the complete expertise.
Literature
Boltz, Claus: Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar, 1769. In Keramos 153/1996
Weber, Julia: Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, Band I. München 2013
Weber, Julia: Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, Band II. München 2013
Boltz, Claus: Hoym, Lemaire und Meißen – Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Dresdner Porzellansammlung. In Keramos 88/1980
Rückert, Rainer: Alchimistische Symbolzeichen als Meissener Masse-, Former-, Bossierer- und Drehermarken im vierten Jahrzehnt des 18. Jahrhunderts. In Keramos 151/1996
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