Very rare Meissen plate with the ‘Red Dragon’ motif
Precursor to the 1st. Dresden Court Service, for the Parisian merchant Rudolph Lemaire, probably based on a Japanese model which he himself brought to Dresden from Paris
Caduceus mark in underglaze blue; Meissen, beginning 1729; Ø 22,2 cm; incised mark "//" for Johann Gottlieb Geitner (see Rückert: Biographische Daten 1990 p. 109 and Keramos 151/1996 Fig. 7 No. 17 and Fig. 8 No. 14, 15)
Description
The Red Dragon service became the first court service of the Dresden Residence by August III, as did the Yellow Lion service of the Warsaw court. Both services were ordered by the Parisian dealer Rudolphe Lemaire – and in the case of the Yellow Lion also by Count Hoym - and not by Augustus the Strong, as Meissen literature had long assumed.
The Caduceus mark is the earliest mark that is documented to have been used in Meissen in 1722. In 1729 it was reactivated as part of the Hoym/Lemaire affair to accommodate Lemaire's plans: Selling the Meissen Kakiemon porcelains as Japanese Arita originals on the Paris luxury goods market at very high prices.
**Including our plate, there are only 6 known examples with the Caduceus mark and the Red Dragon** (double counting possible):
- Slg. Simon Goldblatt, Sotheby’s 2.5.1956 Nr. 220 = Dr. Joseph Claire, Christie’s New York 27.4.1984 Nr. 31
- Slg. Le Claire, Ausstellungskatalog Hamburg 1982 Nr. 124 = Bonhams 23.5.2012 Nr. 31
- Eremitage St. Petersburg, Ausstellungskatalog „The Myth of the Orient“ 2007 Nr. 74
- Grassi Museum Leipzig Kat. Nr. 63 u. Farbtafel S. 47
- Auktion Hoving/Winborg, Stockholm 27-29.4.1916 Nr. 330, zit. Nach Bursche S. 207
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