A Berlin KPM porcelain tureen from the dinner service for Duke Rothenburg
Model no. 337, antikzierat. Rounded vessel with two curved handles and original lid with figural finial designed as a child with poultry. Gilt and scale pattern decor, the sides with Continental birds and insects. Blue sceptre mark, pressnummer 3. H with lid 27, D 21.5 cm.
Circa 1769.
Much of the history of the Rothenburg service remains shrouded in mystery. The parallels between the forms used and the red scale pattern decor suggests that it may have been produced at a similar time to the red dinner service, in around 1769. It was first discovered that the recipient of the service was a member of the Rothenburg comital family in 1913, when 156 pieces from the service were sold by Rudolph Lepke in Berlin as the consignment of a certain "Count R.". The initial was that of a Count Rothenburg of Polish-Nettkow. A substantial number of pieces later came into the collection of the antiques dealer Hans Weinberg in New York, whose estate was auctioned by Christie's of London in 1977.
Provenance
Heinz Reichert, Munich.
Private collection, Berlin.
Literature
The story of this service described in: Winfried und Ilse Baer, Blumen für den König, Berlin 1992, p. 68 ff; this tureen form in: Lenz, Berliner Porzellan, Berlin 1913, pl. 36.