A pair of plates from the godparent's service for Friedrich Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Model "perlenteller mit eingedrehter Kante". The well with finely painted copies of two paintings by Wittich in Babelsberg Palace "Edelfräulein mit Falken" and "Edelknabe mit Jagdgewehr". The border with red stylised flowerheads on a blue band. Blue sceptre mark, red imperial orb mark, impressed sceptre mark with K.P.M., impressed 22, incised marks. D 25.5 cm.
1837 - 1848, after motifs by Ludwig Heinrich Wittich.
Starting in 1837, King Frederick William III presented his godson Frederick Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with a set of six plates every Christmas. The service grew substantially, with 50 settings produced by 1848. The plates were decorated with views of Berlin and Potsdam, but also with motifs from contemporary paintings, in this case two famous works in oils by Ludwig Heinrich Wittich which are known to have hung in the Teesalon in Babelsberg Palace in 1883 but have been missing since 1945.
Provenance
Sotheby´s London, 12th September 2000, lot 130.
Purchased on 23rd September 2000 from Diana Huntley.
Literature
Wittwer (ed.), Raffinesse & Eleganz, Munich 2007, no. 149. Wittwer cites an entry in the contobuch "For his royal highness the hered Arch Duke von Mecklenburg-Schwerin / son of Archduchess Alexandrine (...) 6 agl: Perlenteller no. 3 with curved border matte gold. The cavetto gilt and with coloured border" (ibid. p. 430).
Exhibitions
Raffinesse & Eleganz - Königliche Porzellane des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts aus einer amerikanischen Privatsammlung, Berlin, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Schloss Charlottenburg, 28th July - 4th November 2007
Die Sammlung Cohen. Porzellane der grossen Manufakturen 1800 - 1840. Wien, Liechtenstein Museum, 16th November 2007 - 11th February 2008
Refinement & Elegance - Early 19th-Century Royal Porcelain from an American private collection, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9th September 2008 - 19th April 2009