A Meissen porcelain plate with Chinoiserie decor
Scalloped plate decorated in the centre with a finely painted Chinoiserie landscape. The lip with three branches in Kakiemon polychromy and scattered flowers. Blue crossed swords mark, dreher's mark . . of Johann Martin Kittel jr. Decor with some localised wear, a rim chip at 8 o'clock, a 1 cm crack at 1 o'clock. D 22.5 cm.
Circa 1735/36, decor attributed to Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck.
This plate most likely originates from the "Earl of Jersey" service, named after Thomas Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey (1709 - 1786). Villiers was British envoy to the court of Saxony from 1738 to 1740. Although there is no proof that he was presented with a porcelain service, 21 plates of this design are still housed in Osterley Park, a residence assumed by the 9th Earl of Jersey in 1923. Ralph H. Wark purchased numerous pieces with similar decor, considering them to be designs by Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck. He based this ascription on a jug monogrammed "FvL". Abraham L. den Blauwen was more cautious in his attributions in his catalogue from 2000, as the designs were still being produced after Adam Friedrich von Löwenfinck's flight to Bayreuth on 3rd October 1736, appearing on Meissen porcelain until at least 1740 and presumably after. The collection in Amsterdam catalogued by von den Blaauwen contains eleven plates with the dreher's number 16 and one with a cross shaped dreher's mark thought to be that of Andreas Schiefer (a plate produced by him is now housed in the Arnhold collection).
Provenance
Purchased from Christie's London on 24th February 1997, lot 366.
Literature
Illus. in cat.: Blütenlese. Meißener Porzellan aus der Sammlung Tono Dreßen, Munich 2018, p. 59.
Cf. den Blaauwen, Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2000, cat. nos. 202 - 205.
A further plate in: Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection, London 2008, cat. no. 183.
Cf. Pietsch, Early Meissen Porcelain. The Wark Collection from the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, London 2011, nos. 206 - 212.
Cf. Chilton, Dogs and diplomats: Meissen Porcelain in England, 1732 - 54, in: Cassidy-Geiger (ed.), Fragile Diplomacy. Meissen Porcelain for European Courts ca. 1710 - 63, New Haven-London 2007, p. 278.