Big dish (No. 2) from the Swan Service of Count Brühl

Incised Mark: "2" -- The discreetly incised "2" on the foot ring is a size mark found on bowls with a diameter of approximately 30 cm, which were also internally referred to as "such bowls No. 2." The Swan Service included no fewer than five different bowl sizes:

No. 2 = 30 cm
No. 3 = 34 cm
No. 4 = 38 cm
No. 5 = 43 cm
No. 6 = 47 cm

The Swan Service Design
Kaendler's concept for the Swan Service design emerged in April 1736, when he first recorded his ingenious invention in his work report (Pietsch, Work Reports, April 1736, serial no. 5):

"In a plate mould, which was shaped like a seashell, two swimming swans along with two other water birds and reeds were shallowly carved inside."

Brühl was delighted with the design and the prototype plate. His plan—similar to that of Sulkowski—to commission a grand, representative table service for himself began to take shape. By the following month, in coordination with Count Sulkowski and Kaendler, he had set the course for this endeavor. The factory commission report from May 1736 explicitly states this (Factory Archives TAa 24b fol. 147, cited in Rückert 1990, p. 267):

"If this (= the Sulkowski Service) is realized, another new table service of entirely new style has been requested for His Excellency the Privy Cabinet Minister von Brühl."
(Rückert, ibid.)

All involved adhered to this fundamental agreement. Work on the large animal commission for the decoration of the Japanese Palace was immediately and abruptly halted in May 1736 (Wittwer, p. 56 ff.) to free up the manufactory's capacity for the ministers' large commissions. The Sulkowski Service was completed by autumn 1737, and work on Brühl's service began immediately thereafter.

Kaendler started relatively early with the modeling of the large bowls in his spare time. The five different sizes were created between April and July 1738, as recorded in a summary work report (Factory Archives Aa I Ab 11, fol. 168, cited in Pietsch 2000, no. 28; not included in Pietsch’s 2002 work reports or Rafael):

"Five bowls, from No. 2 to No. 6 in descending size, shaped like a natural shell, with water in which two finely crafted swans swim among reeds, along with a heron holding a fish in its beak, and another flying above the water, for His Excellency Count von Brühl."

The entire production period for Count Brühl’s large table, dessert, and breakfast service, which originally consisted of around 3,000 pieces, spanned from 1737 to 1741. The timeframe for the creation of this bowl can be more precisely determined: it could not have been made before 1738. Kaendler explicitly mentions in his above-cited work report, for the first time, the fish held in the heron’s beak on the left side of the image. As seen in the prototype plate that Kaendler created in 1737—once in our possession—this fish was absent in the initial design (Langeloh 2019, no. 121, p. 658 ff.).

Another detail further refines the estimated creation date of this bowl. In January 1738, Kaendler modified the shell shape (not the carved relief elements of the design), now depicting the inner rather than the outer side of the scallop shell that served as his model. (We owe this insight to Prof. Ulrich Doering, Lüneburg.)

This change resulted from Kaendler’s natural studies in January 1738. During a three-day stay in Dresden, he "drew various rare shells in the natural history chamber and examined them closely to design the aforementioned (Swan) service as naturally as possible."
(Goder 1985, p. 1875).

Kaendler’s work reports from January 1738 align with this:

"For the grand service, a soup plate shaped like a shell was made..." (serial no. 1)
"Furthermore, an ordinary plate, not as deep as the previous one... And indeed, these plates [the soup plate and the ordinary one, our annotation] have been altered once again in terms of the shell, so there are now two different types." (serial no. 3)
The "two different types" clearly refer to the distinction between the inner and outer surfaces of the scallop shell. All Swan Service pieces made before January 1738 feature transverse grooves intersecting the radial shell ribs on the rim—i.e., they are modeled after the shell’s exterior. These grooves are absent on our bowl, indicating that it was modeled after the shell’s interior and was thus made after January 1738 (see Langeloh 2019, p. 663).

It remains unknown when the so-called "Kaendler’s Fisherman's Hut," visible at the height of the heron’s head on our piece, became part of the Swan Service decoration, as no notes from Kaendler on this exist. However, it likely falls within this same phase (as it is also absent from the early design of the prototype plate). The distinctive features of our bowl suggest it was created during Kaendler’s experimental phase in the early months of 1738.

The "entirely new design" is distinguished by the fully white, sculpturally detailed surface of the central medallion, which Kaendler left unpainted. The rim is adorned with the alliance coat of arms of Count Brühl and his wife, Countess Kolowrat-Krakovský, along with a finely serrated gold border and Indian-style flowers.

Kaendler drew inspiration for the relief decoration from engraved prints by Wenzel Hollar (1607–1677), which were published in 1700 by Johann Leonhard Buggel in Nuremberg (Exhibition Catalogue 2010, p. 47 and fn. 61; Siegfried Ducret, Weltkunst, no. 6/1963, March 15, p. 13; Cassidy-Geiger in Keramos 119/1988, pp. 64–68; Pietsch 2000, p. 47). Kaendler’s sketch sheet for this design has been preserved in the manufactory archives (see Pietsch 2000, p. 48, fig. 38; Dr. Willi Goder, porcelain painter and director of historical research at the State Porcelain Manufactory Meissen, in Weltkunst no. 13/1985, July 1, p. 1875).

The overarching theme of the entire service was the glorification of the Germanic term "Brühl", meaning "moist, overgrown place" (Deutsches Wörterbuch).

Comparable Pieces:
See Pietsch, Ulrich (former director of the Dresden Porcelain Collection in the Zwinger): Swan Service: Meissen Porcelain for Heinrich Count von Brühl (1700–1763), Leipzig 2000, cat. no. 26, p. 157, including:

• Bavarian National Museum, Schneider Collection at Schloss Lustheim, inv. no. 1571 & 1573 (2 pieces)
• The Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. no. 62.77
• Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Dortmund, inv. no. C6824
• Museum für Kunsthandwerk Frankfurt, inv. no. 12131/RF347
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 747
• The Cummer Museum of Arts and Gardens, Jacksonville, inv. no. 526 & 527 (2 pieces)