£3,100
A PAIR OF MEISSEN KAKIEMON TEABOWLS AND SAUCERS FROM THE JAPANESE PALACE
circa 1730, each piece of lobed form and painted with birds amongst flowering branches, with overglaze blue crossed swords marks, incised and blackened Japanese palace inventory no's N=361-w to both bowls and one saucer, N=374-w to the other saucer, teabowl 7cm high, saucer 15cm diameter (4)
These bowls and saucers belong to a range of porcelains mainly coping the famous Kakiemon models in the Japanese collection of Augustus the Strong, which instead of the typical underglaze blue enamel, bare Meissen’s crossed swords in painted blue enamel, relating to an order negotiated between the director of the factory, the Count of Hoym, and Rudolph Lemaire, the Paris merchant, who intended to offer the wares for sale in Paris as originals, much-coveted and more expensive than Meissen at the time. The affair dates these pieces to circa 1730.
The King became suspicious of the arrangement, exiling Hoym and Lemaire deported, with the remaining porcelain absorbed into the Royal Saxon collection, where the pieces kept their inventory numbers from the Japanese Palace. The inventory marks (known as ‘Johanneum marks’, a term taken from the building in Dresden to which the Royal collection was moved in the late 19th century) on these pieces are recorded in the Tower Room inventory of 1769;
N 361 W
Sechs gemuschelte Chocoladen-Becher mit Blumen und Vögeln gemalt, 3 Zoll hoch, 3 1/2 Zoll in diam, und sechs detto Unterschaalen, 1 1/2 Zoll tief, 6 1/2 Zoll in diam. No 361.
(Six moulded chocolate cups painted with flowers and birds, 3 inches high, 3 1/2 inches in diam, and six detto saucers, 1 1/2 inches deep, 6 1/2 inches in diam. No 361.) The “detto” refers to No 367, which describes "Twenty-two octagonal sweetmeat dishes, slightly everted rim, with colourful flowers".
N 374 W
Ein detto (mit Vögeln und Blumen gemalt), 1 1/4 Zoll tief, 6 1/2 Zoll in diam. No. 374
(A detto (painted with birds and flowers), 1 1/4 inches deep and 6 1/2 inches in diam. No. 374)
Literature: Claus Boltz, Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und Turmzimmer-Inventar 1769“, in KERAMOS 153 (1996), p. 58.
For an identical saucer, see Koller International Auctions; lot 1106, 21st September 2017.
For a similar bowl and saucer, see Bonhams; ‘Fine European Ceramics’, lot 48, 18th June 2014.
Our thanks to Ruth Sonja Simonis, Porcelain Collection Research Assistant, for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Teabowl 1 - more visible marks to base. Slight rubbing to top rim. Pin head pits.
Teabowl 2 - Slight rubbing to top rim
saucer 361 - a few small chips to rim, rubbing to decoration on raised areas
saucer 374 - two firing cracks directly above birds. Glaze debris, rubbing to decoration on raised areas. Pin head pits
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Room and Absentee Bids:
28.80% inc VAT*
Online and Autobids:
31.8% inc VAT*
