A pair of rare and early beakers from the Hosennestel service
Conical, with flared rim. Both faces decorated with finely painted chinoiserie scenes framed by foliage and scrollwork. The sides with etched chinoiserie figures on puce brackets beneath canopies. With gilt rims above lace borders. The wells dec Conjoined gold cypher of Sabina Aufenwerth "SAW". H ca. 8 cm.
The porcelain Meissen circa 1720, decor by Sabina Hosennestel (née Auffenwerth), circa 1731.
Numerous "hausmaler" decors from the 1720s and 30s are attributed to the Auffenwerth family. Two well-known published services are thought to have been painted by Sabina Auffenwerth (1706 - 1782), the most talented of the Auffenwerth sisters. She initially trained under her father and later went on to become a highly accomplished porcelain and enamel painter.
Like the fine gilt etchings made in the workshop of the brothers Abraham and Bartholomäus Seuter in Augsburg, the works of the sisters Johanna, Anna Elisabeth (1696 - ?), and especially Sabina Auffenwerth are without doubt of comparable quality to those made by the manufactory. In an article published in 1985 (Keramos, issue 109, 1985, p. 3 - 16), Christopher Clarke provided a clear and logically reckoned date for the service to which these two works most certainly belong. He proposes that the pieces were produced on occasion of Sabina's marriage to Isaac Hosennestel on 13th December 1731.
Provenance
Private collection, Mary Lee Johnston.
Sotheby's, London, 7th November 1972, lot 131.
The Roy L. Byrnes collection.
Christie`s, London, 12th May 2010, lot 130.
English private collection.
Literature
A coffee pot from the Hosennestel service illus. in: Weinhold, Emailmalerei an Augsburger Goldschmiedearbeiten, Munich 2000, illus. 139.