Unique ensemble of three Meissen Shiba Onko dishes from the Collection of Augustus the Strong

THE SHIBA ONKO DECORATION AT MEISSEN

The depicted scene is based on a story that was highly popular in 17th-century Japan. The young Sima Guang—known in Japan as Shiba Onko—saves a friend from drowning by throwing a stone into the large water-filled earthenware jar into which the friend had fallen (Jenyns 1965, p. 125; Porcelain for Palaces 1990, p. 152; Impey 2002, p. 157). This motif, symbolizing ingenuity and presence of mind, also became one of the most popular Kakiemon designs in Europe. In England, it became known under the name “Hob-in-the-well” (ibid.).

The rarity and exceptional quality of Japanese Kakiemon porcelain—with its milky-white body (nigoshide) and brilliant, translucent enamels—made it highly sought after in Europe (Weber 2013, vol. I, pp. 47 f.) and elevated it to one of the most coveted luxury goods on the Parisian art market (see, for example, the Shiba Onko bowls: Weber 2013, vol. II, p. 137, end of entry). However, imports from Japan began to dry up during the 1720s. As Impey suggests (2002, p. 29), the Kakiemon workshop may have ceased production around this time, possibly due to renewed competition from Chinese exports.

THE PARISIAN MERCHANT RUDOLPHE LEMAIRE

Rudolphe Lemaire, a Parisian merchant who recognized the market potential arising from declining supply and continued demand, had the ingenious idea to have the coveted Kakiemon porcelain copied by the only manufactory in Europe capable of such a feat: Meissen.

Thanks to the thorough research of Julia Weber (Meißener Porzellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern, Munich 2013) and the sources published by Claus Boltz (“Hoym, Lemaire und Meißen – Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Dresdner Porzellansammlung”, Keramos 88/1980), we can now trace Lemaire’s influence on Meissen’s production.

In 1728, Lemaire travelled to Dresden, where—thanks to good connections—he quickly secured an audience with Augustus the Strong himself. Lemaire succeeded in winning the king’s support for his ideas, though only under the pretense that “if the wares were made according to his [Lemaire’s] specifications and models, Saxon porcelain would soon surpass that currently imported from East Asia, and might even equal the old Japanese wares” (Weber 2013, vol. I, p. 33). In reality, however, his intention was to produce deceptively accurate imitations that would under no circumstances reveal their Meissen origin—something he deliberately concealed.

Initial difficulties in the commercial and contractual relationship between Lemaire and the Meissen manufactory were quickly resolved when cabinet minister Count Carl Heinrich von Hoym took over the directorship of the manufactory in June 1729 (Weber 2013, vol. I, pp. 36 f.). In Hoym—who not only knew the taste and lifestyle of the Parisian court from his time as Saxon envoy in Versailles but sorely missed it back in Saxony—Lemaire found a patron who supported the project with enthusiasm. By September 1729, the first contract was signed, granting Lemaire preferential treatment over other merchants. This privilege even extended to personal access to Höroldt’s painting workshop. The manufactory’s stipulation that he was “on no account to seek out the secrets of the factory” (quoted in Weber, ibid.) seems rather like a formality in light of Count Hoym’s wholehearted support.

Thus, the project swiftly gained momentum. Yet two key problems still had to be solved in order to sell Meissen porcelain in Paris as “old inden cracqué”—that is, old Japanese Kakiemon porcelain:

1. How could this be achieved while still complying with Augustus the Strong’s explicit order of October 1, 1729 (Weber 2013, vol. I, p. 38, fn. 158), which mandated that all Meissen porcelain be marked with the crossed swords?
2. Where would the Japanese models to be copied come from? Initially, Lemaire brought some Japanese Kakiemon wares from Paris to Dresden himself, as can be shown with the example of the Bantam rooster (see Langeloh Jubilee Publication 2019, no. 71, p. 401). But this process was costly and time-consuming, as he made clear in a letter to the king in June 1729 (Boltz, Keramos 88/1980, p. 5).

The first problem was cleverly solved by applying enamel-blue sword marks over the glaze, instead of the usual underglaze blue. These could later be removed with nitric acid (aqua fortis).

To address the second issue, Hoym and Lemaire turned to the holdings of Augustus the Strong’s porcelain collection. At the time, the king owned the largest collection of East Asian porcelain in Europe. On Hoym’s orders, approximately 220 pieces—mostly Japanese—were removed from the collection in November and December 1729, and again in April 1730, and handed over to the Meissen manufactory for replication (Weber 2013, vol. I, p. 39).

Among them was an octagonal dish of Arita porcelain with the Shiba Onko decoration, from which Höroldt created two Meissen painting models.

THE HÖROLDT MODEL FOR THE SHIBA ONKO DECOR
The first two Meissen dishes with the Shiba Onko decoration served as prototypes for Höroldt and his painters in the production of further examples commissioned by the merchant Lemaire.

The whereabouts of both prototype pieces are known:

• One is preserved in the Porcelain Collection at the Zwinger, Dresden (PE 5223; Weber 2013, vol. II, p. 137).
• The second was discovered by us in 2020 and is now held in a private collection.

As Julia Weber has shown (op. cit.), around 220 East Asian porcelain objects from the collection of Augustus the Strong were sent to Meissen in November and December 1729 at the behest of Count Hoym and at the initiative of the Parisian merchant Lemaire. Among them was a Japanese Shiba Onko dish, “after which two ‘passichte Confect-Schaalen No. 71’ were produced as painting models in Höroldt’s painting workshop” (Weber 2013, vol. II, p. 137; Boltz 1980, p. 98).

The Japanese original bore the palace number “N=71–” and was—according to Weber—mistakenly inventoried under “Krack-Porcelain” (=Japanese porcelain) in the “Tea Wares” section, where four Japanese Shiba Onko dishes are listed as follows:
“Four pieces ditto [octagonal and scalloped assiettes], with overlapping and flower-painted as well as brown-edged rims, painted on the inside with colorful pagodas and trees, 1 3/4 inches deep, 9 inches (= 21.15 cm) in diameter, No. 71.”

Based on this Arita original, Höroldt produced two exact Meissen copies, which served as models for the production of Shiba Onko dishes for the Parisian merchant Lemaire. Höroldt included them in his handwritten price list of Meissen working copies after East Asian originals, compiled on February 24, 1731 (Boltz 1980, p. 92):
“Specification of those porcelains which must be retained as models for further use …: 2 passichte Confect-Schaalen No. 71” [= Shiba Onko]

Both dishes bear the following identifying features on their reverse:

• Overglaze crossed swords in enamel blue;
• The incised palace number “N=153-W,” under which they were inventoried in December 1734, together with other painting models (Weber vol. II, p. 137; Boltz 1996, p. 92). In the 1770 inventory (section d; Boltz, Keramos 153/1996, p. 76), it states: “Twenty pieces of different ‘Confect-Schaalen’ and salad bowls, some painted with ears of corn, flowers, as well as pagodas [= Shiba Onko] and birds, old Indian-style, No. 153. 2 pcs missing.”
• And — most significantly — both dishes show the remnants of a ground-down number, which was originally “N=71–”, referring to the Japanese original in the royal collection.

Julia Weber assumes (op. cit.) that the Japanese numbers were removed when the pieces were transferred from the manufactory back into the royal collection, and — probably to avoid confusion — were replaced by “N=153-W” during re-inventorying.

Reverse of the Shiba Onko dish (formerly in our possession), with overglaze blue crossed swords mark, Johanneum number “N=153-W,” and faint traces of the Japanese palace number “N=71.”

Detail view showing traces of the Japanese palace number “N=71” and the crossed swords mark.

THE END OF THE HOYM/LEMAIRE AFFAIR AND THE CONFISCATION OF THE PORCELAINS

The schemes of Count Hoym and the merchant Lemaire to have Japanese porcelain from the royal collection copied — and to sell the results not as Meissen products, but as antique Japanese wares — ran directly counter to the will of the king. As early as August 1730, Augustus the Strong informed Count Hoym of his dissatisfaction with his conduct (Weber 2013, vol. I, pp. 41 ff.), delivering to him a list of fifteen charges. Paragraph 12 stated that “with regard to the porcelain, the royal will was not obeyed” (Weber, ibid.). Hoym’s reply did little to placate the king’s anger. On 27 March 1731, Hoym was dismissed from all his offices and put on trial. He was sentenced to permanent exclusion from court and ordered to pay 100,000 thaler in restitution.
The Parisian merchant Lemaire got off more lightly: he was merely expelled from the country.

All porcelain that remained in Hoym’s Dresden townhouse was confiscated in early April 1731 and transferred to the Japanese Palace.

Among them were the two plates and the twelve-lobed bowl we are presenting here.

The round Shiba Onko dishes with the palace number “N=75-W” are rare. The 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace lists only eleven examples (Boltz, loc. cit.):
“Eleven dishes with brown rim, painted inside with pagodas and flowers, 9½ [sic] inches deep, 9¾ inches in diameter. No. 75”

These dishes go back to orders placed by the Parisian merchant Lemaire and were confiscated from Count Hoym’s residence on 4 and 7 April 1731 (Boltz, Keramos 88/1980, pp. 42 f.):
“Porcelain that the French merchant Lemaire had prepared for sale and which was found at Count Hoym’s house,
but by His Majesty’s most gracious order brought to the Dutch Palace in Alt-Dresden:
… 10 dishes with ‘Bajotten’” [= Shiba Onko]

Aside from our two dishes, only seven other examples are known:

• 5 in the Porcelain Collection, Dresden (cited in Den Blaauwen 2000, no. 162, p. 240)
• 1 in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Dresden (cited in Den Blaauwen, loc. cit.)
• 1 formerly Krieger Collection (Pietsch 1993, no. 70) = Bonhams, 3 December 2020, lot 102 = Christie’s Geneva, 3 December 1982, lot 152

The twelve-lobed Shiba Onko bowls with the palace number “N=35-W” are a Meissen invention in terms of shape. According to Julia Weber (2013, vol. II, p. 137), there are no Japanese twelve-lobed bowls with this decoration in Arita. It is, therefore, an independent variation of the East Asian original — one that evidently convinced Lemaire. The Shiba Onko painting model used for the twelve-lobed form, bearing the palace number “N=153-W” (identical to the number on our octagonal painting model shown earlier), is today in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Den Blaauwen 2000, no. 159b).

The high status that Arita porcelains — and with them the Meissen reinterpretations — held on the Parisian market can be demonstrated by these twelve-lobed bowls.

We own an old Parisian auction catalogue from the year 1747, in which the story of the Shiba Onko bowls can be followed from a Parisian perspective. The well-known Parisian collector Vicomte de Fonspertuis owned two such bowls. His extensive estate was auctioned off by the famous Parisian art dealer Edmond François Gersaint — the very same who was immortalised by Watteau in the painting L’Enseigne de Gersaint. The sale began in September 1747 and continued through March 1748. The catalogue, written by Gersaint himself, is remarkably thorough and informative. Weber took it, among other sources, as a starting point for her investigation in the “Detective Story” (Haughton Seminar 2012), and she summarises it in the introduction to the Shiba Onko chapter of her comprehensive catalogue of the Meissen Kakiemon porcelains in the Schneider Collection.

Under no. 94 (p. 61), the Fonspertuis catalogue lists “two very fine deep salad bowls with small lobes and ‘pagodas’ copied in Saxon porcelain after old Japanese originals.” Julia Weber assumes these can only refer to the twelve-lobed Shiba Onko bowls: “Figural Kakiemon decorations are rare — and thus so are the Meissen copies. When we read of lobed bowls with ‘pagodas’ (i.e. with depictions of Asian figures), they can only be bowls with Shiba Onko decoration. Since the catalogue mentions ‘small lobes,’ the twelve-lobed version is most likely intended” (ibid.).

Julia Weber also published Gersaint’s original commentary — a highly interesting and detailed source — in both French and German translation: *“Two very fine deep salad bowls with small lobes and pagodas made of Saxon porcelain. These two pieces are copies after old Japanese ones. Even though they are copies, collectors will easily admit that they are admirable in their own way, so perfectly do they resemble the originals of the rarest and finest type — to the point that even the keenest eye might be deceived by such a faithful imitation of all the essential and characteristic features of this quality of porcelain so prized by connoisseurs — if it were not for the two crossed swords on the underside of each piece that identify the works of the Dresden manufactory.

I am not the only one who hesitated in assessing their nature, and I do not blush to confess that I deliberated for some time. But I discovered a seal at the centre of each base. This seal, which led me to suspect a small deception, confirmed my doubt; and indeed, after I removed it, my suspicion was confirmed when I saw the painted crossed swords beneath.

It is certainly hard not to be misled at first glance — especially when one assumes, rightly, that a cabinet of this rank contains only genuine objects. Perhaps Monsieur de Fonspertuis acquired these copies in order to delight in surprising some of his fellow collectors.

Be that as it may, these two pieces have great merit, just like eight more of the same type that follow in this catalogue. I doubt whether anything more painstaking in its imitation of old porcelain has ever left the Dresden manufactory.”*

Title page of the 1747 Gersaint catalogue, with an engraving by Cochin, clearly inspired by Watteau’s painting "L’Enseigne de Gersaint"

Cat. pp. 60–63: Description of the Shiba Onko bowls (Library of Elfriede Langeloh)

That was the Parisian perspective; the Meissen records, thanks to the well-documented sources published by Boltz, offer us an almost complete picture. Already in the price list attached to the first Lemaire contract, dated 30 September 1729, the twelve-lobed bowls (cf. Weber, op. cit.) appear under the entry “large confection or salad bowls at 5 talers each.” In the pricing specification for the second contract, they are listed as “ditto [= confection bowls – according to Weber II, p. 137, with Shiba Onko decoration] deep passigte at 5 talers,” whereas the octagonal examples were priced at two or three talers, depending on size.

As previously mentioned, following the exposure of the Hoym–Lemaire affair, all porcelains found at Count Hoym’s Dresden residence were seized in April 1731. Among them were twelve-lobed Shiba Onko bowls of the same size as ours, inventoried under the palace number “N=35-W”: “Twenty-four pieces ditto [= twelve-lobed bowls, with scalloped and brown rim, painted inside with pagodas, old Indian (i.e. Japanese) decoration], 3 inches deep [= 7 cm], 10 inches [= 23.5 cm] in diameter: no. 35.”

Originally, then, only 24 such bowls were made, of which about half can still be traced (see below). In the open market, apart from our example, we have been able to locate only two others: Christie’s, 25 February 1991, lot 170; and another formerly in our possession until 2020 (Langeloh 2019, no. 109, pp. 582 f.).

Comparative Examples of Twelve-Lobed Shiba Onko Bowls with Palace Number “N=35-W”

1. Porzellansammlung im Zwinger (PE 5219 Pietsch: Meissener Porzellan und seine ostasiatischen Vorbilder. Leipzig 1996 Nr. 15) mit dem achteckigen ostasiatischen Vorbild (P.O. 4771 Joh.-Nr. N=124). Pietsch macht keine Angabe zur Pressmarke
2. Slg. Schneider, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Schloss Lustheim, Rückert 1966 Nr. 239 T. 64 = Weber 2013 Bd. 2 Nr. 115, Ø 25,7 – 26,4 cm; 6 cm hoch; Pressmarke: „drei mal Kreuz im Kreis“ (Rückert a.a.O.)
3. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Den Blaauwen 2000 Nr. 157, Geschenk von Otto Blohm 1909, Ø 26,5; Höhe: 5,7 cm; Pressmarke: drei mal Kreuz im Kreis
4. Den Blaauwen 2000 Nr. 158, Ø 24,2; Höhe: 6,5 cm; Pressmarke: zwei mal Kreuz im Kreis = Margarete und Franz Oppenheimer (Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1927 Nr. 81)
5. Den Blaauwen 2000 Nr. 159 A, Ø 26,5; Höhe: 6 cm; keine Angabe zur Pressmarke
6. Victoria and Albert Museum London (Invent.-Nr. 30-1908)
7. Slg. Gustav von Klemperer (Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1928 Nr. 167), Ø 25; Höhe: 6,5cm
8. Slg. Davids (Lassen 1985 Nr. 59)
9. Slg. Davids (Lassen 1985 Nr. 59)
10. Slg. von Dallwitz (Kat. Lichthofausstellung 1904 Nr. 94); Ø 24, 6 cm; Höhe: 6,6 cm; Verbleib unbekannt
11. Schweizer Privatsammlung (Christie’s 25.02.1991 Nr. 170, rd. 81.000 DM) Ø 25 cm
12. Bayerische Privatsammlung (Langeloh 2019 Nr. 109 S. 582 f.)